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FOR THE PEGQPLE 
FOR EDVCATION 


FOR SCIENCE 


LIBRARY 


OF 


THE AMERICAN MUSEUM 
OF 


NATURAL HISTORY 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF THE 


ROYAL SOCIETY 


SU Se NS LAWN DD: 


VOLUME XY. 


PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY 
BY 
H. POLE & CO., 95 ELIZABETH STREET, BRISBANE. 


1900. 


TAY 


a a a = 


Raoval- Society of Queensland, 


Patron: 


HIS EXCELLENCY THE RIGHT HONORABLE LORD 
LAMINGTON, K.C.M.G. 


OFFICERS, 1900. 


President: 
JOHN THOMSON, M.B. 


Vice=President : 
W. J. BYRAM. 


Hon. Treasurer : 
Hon. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 


Hon. Secretary : 
J. F. BAILEY. 


Hon. Librarian: 
ROWLAND ILLIDGE. 


Members of Council: 
F. MANSON BAILEY, F.L.S. Cc. J. POUND, F.R.M.S. 
A. G. JACKSON J. SHIRLEY. B.Sc. 
J. W. SUTTON. 


Trustees: 
Hon. A. C. GREGORY, M.L.C., C.M.G. Hon. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 
W. ALCOCK TULLY, B.A. 


Hon. Auditor : 
A. J. TURNER. 


Page. 
Acidalia coercita .. 46 140 
artita te bd 141 
vibrata be ate 141 
Agriophora curta .. ae 161 
“A poliopepla 50 161 
Aigeria chrysophanes se 136 
Alaus, sp. Bn ye 2 
Alphitona excelsa.. 5b 136 
Alstonia constricta .. te 134 
Anteia canescens .. be 149 
;, Doddsiana .. fe 149 
Aphytoceros luealis.. ae 135 
Arrhodia fenestrita a 145 
Artaxa arrogans As Bic 140 
Aspidoptera a5 a6 146 
rf ambiens O8 147 
‘3 navigata ote 146 
Bancroft, T. L. (M.B.)— 

On a Method by which a 

Pure Water Supply 

Could be Obtained for 
Brisbane... ve 83 
Batocera Boisduvali ae 135 
Beginnings of Life, The aye 5 


Berce, J. S., Brownies, J. H., and 
Rinerose, R. C.— 
List of Minerals of the 
Walsh and Tinaroo Dis- 


tricts be 50 47 
Browntee, J. H. (vide J. 8. Berge)— 
Bryophila exquisita. . As 150 
Byram, W. J.— 

- Beginnings of Life, The .. D 
Calligenialimonis .. axe 139 
5 melitaula.. ae 139 
Casyapa beata .. oe 136 
Catoryctis emarginata a0 154 
Caves near Camooweal, Des- 
eription of oe ae 87 
’ Chaleoptcrus a Ha 2 
Charagia .. a6 eis 91 
i 5 eximia ad se 1 
Chlenias sagittaria .. ae 148 
Clenarcha dryinopa.. bo 158 


CoLLEeDGE, W R.— 
Observations on the Life 
History of the Mosquito 
(2 plates) =e ote 111 
Conogethes jubata .. on 162 
5 punctéfe ralis oo 153 


Cryptophaga eugeniae 


ae fumata 

molaris 

7 Pulteneae 
Darala consuta 


Duek weed A 
Entomologica, Miscellanea 
Entomology of a ‘Tea-tree 
Swamp, Notes on .. 
Euarestus id 
45 nobilitans 
cf patrocinatus 
Euplea corinna 
Ficus aspera 
3 australis 
3, macrophylla 
5 Benjaminea 
Filaria Banerofti 
Filaria Sanguinis 
Galanageia ee 
99 quardrigramma 
Geebung 
Glyphodes a 
of cosmarcha.. 
my excelsalis .. 
of luciferalis .. 
“ tolumnalis : 
Hepialus? virescens, Fragmen- 
tary Paper on the larval struc- 
ture, &e., Of (with plate) 
Herminia caencalis .. 
“1 dormiens.. 
i iridescens 
Hydrilla 
Hypsa chloropyga 
5, mesophora 
5,  Dlagiata Be 


InLineée, R.— 

Miscellanea Entomologica ; 
or Odd Notes on the His- 
tory and Transformation 
of Some Insects 

Notes on the Entomology 
of a Tea-tree Swamp 

Index to List of Minerals of the 
Walsh and Tinaroo Districts 
Ismene lucescens .. te 


Keys, T. P.-- 
Description of Some Caves 
near Camooweal 
Lemna ae Oa me 


Lepidoptera, New Species of 
Queensland 

Leucania sepulchralis 

Lichenaula circumsignata 


fe dirigens 
F petulens 
provisa 
oo tortriciformis 
& umbrosa A 
o velitata 
Lucas, T. P. (M.R.C.S.)— 


New species of Q. Lepi- 
doptera 
Lycaena elaborata .. 
Margarodes vertumnalis 


MatTHews, R. H.— 
Stone Cooking Holes of 
Australian Aborigines 
Melanitis leda 
Method by which a Pure Water 
- Supply could be Obtained for 
Brisbane oe sn 
Minerals of the Walsh and 
Tinaroo Districts, N. Q. 
Monoctenia 
Monoctophora 
eaprina 
= stillans F 
Mosquito, Observations on the 
Life History of (2 plates) 
Mosquitoes and Malaria 
Nature and Origin of Living 
Matter .. fe A 
Nuphar lutea 


” 


Numphea gigantea 
Ochrosia Moorei 
Oeceticus felinus 
Oleander re 
Ophyx ochroptera .. 
Orthopterous ae 
Persoonia cornifolia .. 
Phylomictis aretans 
decretoria 
a maligna 
obliquata 
” palemorpha 
Plasmodium malarize 
Plusia chillagoes 
aqgram. wea. 


” 


Pond weed ae 


INDE X—Continued. 


Page. 


137 
149 
155 
156 
157 
156 
158 
157 
155 


Page. 

Proceedings of Annual Meeting L 
Public Abattoirs andthe Pre- 

vention of Tuberculosis ze 95 


Quali, A. (F.E.8.)— 
Fragmentary Paper on the 
Larval Structure, &e., of 
Hepialus? viresceus (with 
plate) i an 89 
Reply to Some Critical Notes 


on the Q. Vol. of the 

International Catalogue 

of Scientific Literature .. 75 
Report of Council for 1899 a I. 
Rhynchospermum .. = 135 


RinGrosk, R. C. (vide J. S. Berge.) — 


Saw Fly .. he 4p 2 
SHIRLEY, J. (B.Se.)— 
Mosquitoes and Malaria .. 7L 
Reply to Some Critical 


Notes on the Q. Vol. of 
the International Cata- 
logue of Scientific Litera- 


ture me oe 75 
Skorpisthes : = 145 
a unda-seripta ro 148 
Stephanotis 135 
Stone Cooking Hake of Naot 
lian Aborigines (Title only) .. 3 


Sutton, J. W.-— 
Presidential Address re 
Symphyletes farinosus a 2 


TayLor, Hon. W. F., M.D., M.L.C.— 
Public Abattoirs and the 


Prevention of Tuber- 
culosis as we 95 
Teara protrahens .. a 2 
Telecrates tesselata i 159 

Tuberculosis, Public Abattoirs 
and the Prevention of oi 95 

Turner, Dr. A. JEFFERIS.— 

The Nature and Origin of 
Living Matter - Br 27 
Walking-stick insects = 3 
Water Hyacinth ie F 85 
Water lilies a8 Se 84 
Xyloricta austera .. 5s 159 
a lychnobii .. <+—-. 158 


Zygocera pruinosa .. a4 2 


> 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF THE 


Annual Mecting of Members, 


HELD ON SATURDAY, 20th JANUARY, 1900. 


The Annual Meeting of the Society was held on Saturday, 
20th January. 
‘ The President (Mr. J. W. Sutton) occupied the chair. 

The Minutes of previous Annual Meeting were read and 
confirmed. 

The Hon. Secretary (Mr. J. F. Bailey) read the following 
report of the Council for the 1899 Session. 


To the Members of the Royal Society of Queensland. 

Your Council have pleasure in submitting their report for 
the year 1899 :— 

In February the Society removed from Wakefield’s Buildings 
to the rooms now occupied in the Technical College, Ann 
Street, where every accommodation is afforded for lectures and 
demonstrations, the use of the lecture theatre being granted 
when required. In obtaining these rooms the Society is greatly 
indebted to the President, who, as soon as he was elected to that 
position, endeavoured to secure more commodious rooms for the 
Society, with the above result. 

Thirteen Council Meetings have been held during the year. 
The attendance of officers will be found in Appendix A. 

Ten Ordinary Meetings of Members have been held, and the 
attendance has been very satisfactory. A list of the papers read 
at these meetings is given in Appendix B. 

In former years one of the most interesting features of these 
meetings was the exhibition of specimens, models, etc., but the 
Council regret that during the past two sessions very little has 
been done in this direction, and would urge members to 
endeavour to renew this instructive custom. 


ii. REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. 


In July last, instead of the Ordinary Meeting, a Scientific 
Conversazione was held, to which one thousand invitations were 
issued, resulting in an attendance of between 700 and 800 
persons. The whole of the rooms of the College were occupied 
for lectures and displays of scientific apparatus. It proved a 
complete success, and reflected great credit on all those who 
assisted and on the Committee of Management. 

~ In March last, Vol. XIV. of the Proceedings, containing 
the papers read during the 1898 session, was published and 
distributed. 

A list of the new members (33) will be found in Appendix 
C. This number has not been reached for many years past. 
The Council regret that since the last Annual Meeting death has 
deprived the Society of two members, viz.: Mr. Othman Blakey, 
who died about a month after his election as a member; and 
Mr. James Thorpe, a very old member, who did valuable work 
as Hon. Secretary of the Philosophical Society of Queensland, 
with which this Society was incorporated in 1884. 

The Queensland Volume of the International Catalogue of 
Scientific Literature which was in course of preparation when the 
last report was submitted, has been completed ; and, through the 
courtesy of the Hon. the Chief Secretary of Queensland (Hon. 
J. R. Dickson), copies were distributed in July last to those who 
were members of the Society at that time, as well as to anumber 
of Institutions with which the Society exchanges publications. 
The Council wish to record their appreciation of the manner in 
which the compiler, Mr. J. Shirley, B.Sc., performed this work. 
The copy of a letter to the Agent General for Queensland, given in 
appendix D., shows that Professor Armstrong, F.R.S., the Chair- 
man of the International Catalogue Committee, was pleased 
with the publication. 

A large number of donations to the Library have been re- 
ceived during the year from kindred societies, &¢., in various 
parts of the world. It is to be hoped that the funds this year 
will permit the setting apart of a sum for binding the many papers 
thus received. 

The Hon. Treasurer’s statement is given in appendix E. 
It will be seen that the balance in the Bank is £6 19s. 3d., while the 
outstanding accounts amount to £19 4s. 3d. These, however, 
will be easily met, as the sum of about £88 in subsidy is due 
this month. 


REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. lil. 


The Council desire to express their thanks to the Hon. the 
Chief Secretary (Hon. J. R. Dickson), for his generous action in 
placing the sum of £50, together with an allowance of £1 for 
every £1 subscribed up to £100, at the disposal of the Society. 

In accordance with the rules, all the officers retire, but, with 
the exception of the President and Vice-President (neither of 
whom, according to Rule 16, can hold the same office for two 
years in succession), are eligible for re-election. 


JW. SU LDEON, 


President. 
J. F. BAILEY, 


Hon. Secretary. 


Brisbane, 8th January, 1900. 


APPENDIX A. 


ATTENDANCE OF OFFICERS AT THE THIRTEEN Counci. MereEtTINGS 


DURING THE 1899 Session. 


Office. Name. attanded: 
President .. | J. W. Sutton he si 12 
Vice-President ..| A. Jetferis Turner, M. D. re te 2 
Hon. Treasurer ..| Hon. A. Norton, M.L.C. ale be 11 
Hon. Secretary ..| J. F. Bailey .. 4 Ste aye 10 
Hon. Librarian ..{ Rowland Illidge ac ae ws 10 

F. M. Bailey, F.L.S ye ae 11 

; W. J. Byram me oo 7 

Membersof Council) C. J. Pound, F.R. M.S Ss. oe OF 7 
| John Shirley, IBS Carels ate 30 10 
S$. B.J.Skertchly .. sc ai 4 


Ty. 


REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. 


APPENDIX B. 


List or Papers Reap purinc 1899 Session. 


Date. 


Title. 


Author. 


February 18 
March 18 


April 22 


May 13 


June 17 


” 


August 19.. 


Sept. 16 
October 30 
Noy. 18 


The History of Tin 


Notes on the Entomology of a 
Tea-tree Swamp .. - 


tralian Aborigines 


The Beginnings of Life and 


Differentiation 


Some Problems regarding the | 
| A. Jefferis Turner, M.D- 


Nature and Origin of Life .. 


List of Minerals of the Walsh 
and Tinaroo Districts 


Mosquitoes and Malaria 


Life History of the Mosquito . 


Reply to Some Critical Notes on | 
the Queensland Volume of | 


the International Catalogue 
of Scientific Literature 


A Method by which a Pure | 


Water Supply could be ob- 
tained for Brisbane 


Account of a Visit to some Caves 


near Camooweal ... 
Insects and Flowers .. 
Tuberculosis 


The larval Structure of eso 
virescens - 


The Transvaal 


Public Abattoirs and the Pre- 
vention of Tuberculosis 


Odd Notes on the History and | 
Transformation of various | 


Insects 


Some New Species of Queens- 
land Lepidoptera .. - 


. |S. B. J. Skertehly 


. | R. Ilidge 


| Stone Cooking-holes of the Aus- | 
. | R. H. Mathews 


W. J. Byram 


J.S. Berge and 
J. H. Brownlee 


John Shirley, B.Sc. 
W. R. Colledge 


John Shirley, B.Se. 


. | T. L. Baneroft, M.B. 


T. P. Keys 
John Shirley, B.Se. 
C. J. Pound, F.R.M.S. 


Ambrose Quail, F.E.S. 
John Shirley, B.Sc. 


Hon. W. F. Taylor, M.D., 
M.L.C 


. | R. Illidge 


| 'T. P. Lucas, M.R.C.S., 


Eng. 


REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. 


APPENDIX C. 


Members ELECTED DURING THE YEAR, 1899. 


_ Date. 


Jan. 21 
Feb. 18 


March 18 


April 22 .. 


May 13 


9 


June 17 ae 


” 


ie] 


August 19 


Sept. 16 ./ 


9 


Novy. 


Dec. 7 6 


INS) Soe 


Name. 


Nott, F. Lan. 
Blakey, O. 

Lees, William 
Gaden, E. A. 
Green, L. C. 

Hall, T. M. 

Lyons, D. T. 36 
Tonks, T. AG 
Almond, Capt. T. M. 
Rickburn, G. H.. .- 
Horsfall, Wm. 

May, Dr. T. H. 
Jackson, A. G. 
Zoeller, Carl 
Whitton, Miss I. D. 
Smith, Havelock .. 
Colledge, J.C... 
Watson, C. A. H... 
Ferguson, C.D. .. 
Pinnock, P. = 
M‘Queen, Rev. W.S. 
Carter, H. R. He 
Allom, 8S. R. F. 


Wright, A. E. 
Hesketh, John : 
Greenfield, A. P. .. 
Kaye, A. : 
Owens, T. H. 

| Davis, Sept. 
Berge, J. 8. 
Brownlee, J. H. 
Trimble, Wm. 


| Blackboro, E. A. .. | 


te ee 
ue | Herberton 


Address. 


Proposer. 


Agric.Col. Gatton 
Stafford-Kedron 
Coorparoo 
Ashgrove ; 
Geo. Survey Dep. 
Brisbane 
Clayfield 
Brisbane 


South Brisbane 
Petrie Ter., Bris. 
Bundaberg 
Brisbane 


” se 


” 


” 
Ipswich 
Brisbane 


Clayfield 
Brisbane 


South Brisbane 


F. Bailey 
S. B. J. Skertchly 
Hon.A.Norton M.L.C. 
8. B. J. Skertchly 
J. W. Sutton 


” 


J. 


” 


G. Watkins 
J. Shirley, B.Sc. 


. | James Keys, F.L.S. 


J. W. Sutton 
Mrs. R. Edwards 


.| 8. B. J. Skertchly 


J. W. Sutton 
J. Shirley, B.Sc. 


. J. W. Sutton 
. | J. F. Bailey 


Mrs. R. Edwards 


G. Warkine : 
C. J. Pound 


| J. W. Sutton 
A. G. Jackson 


J. Shirley, B.Se. 
R. Illidge 
T. Tonks 


|| J. F. Bailey 


Ji: W. Sutton 


Vi. REPORT OF THE COUNCIL, 


APPENDIX D. 


Copy of Letter received by the Agent-General for Queensland 
from Prof. H. E. Armstrong, F.R.S., Chairman Royal 
Society of London International Catalogue Committee- 


‘“©55 Granville Park, 
‘‘ Lewisham, London, §.E., 
‘October 6th, 1899. 


“Dear Sir, 

‘‘During the vacation your letter of August 30th has 
been received at the Royal Society, advising that Mr. Shirley 
has prepared a Catalogue of Scientific Literature published in 


Queensland, and enclosing a copy of the publication. 


‘It is a most admirable piece of work, and the Colony 


is to be congratulated on possessing such a man. 


‘Tf you will send 100 of the 200 copies which you say 
are available to the Royal Society, I shall be obliged. It 
will be of great value in showing what may and should be 
done.” 

(Signed) H. E. ARMSTRONG.” 


VII. 


COUNCIL. 


REPORT OF THE 


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VIIl. PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 


The adoption of the Report was moved by Mr. A. J. Turner, 
seconded by Mr. F. Whitteron, and carried. 
The President then delivered the following address :— 


PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS, JANUARY, i? 
i900. 


Lapies snp GENTLEMEN,— 

It has been your good fortune for some years past to listen 
to Presidential Addresses, delivered by men of ability and 
learning, to which I make no claim—and it was with the 
greatest reluctance that I allowed myself to be placed in the 
Presidential Chair, knowing that there were many members of 
this Society better fitted for such a responsible position, so that 
the members have only themselves to blame, for any deficiencies 
and short-comings on my part during my term of office. 
However, it is satisfactory to learn by the Council’s report, 
that our roll of membership has largely increased, but I regret 
to say that the active members are decreasing gradually, by 
death and other causes, so I take this opportunity of appealing 
to the members to throw more interest into the Society, by 
coming forward and filling those places. Our financial position 
is good, and last but not least, the Society is comfortably 
housed in suitable quarters, for which the members are largely 
indebted to the Council of the Technical College. I also take 
this opportunity of thanking the members of our Council for 
the able assistance and advice received from them during the past 
year. 

The selection of a subject for my retiring address this 
evening, I can assure you, was no easy task, because on looking 
back for some past years, I find that your past Presidents have 
all given addresses on special subjects, particularly in their own 
professional line, and which they were well qualified to handle. 
I, having no special subject, have therefore, to ask your kind 
indulgence this evening, if I should somewhat weary you. As I 
have said before, for some years past your Presidential addresses 
have been on special subjects, diverting from the time-honoured 
custom of reviewing the progress of science, in its various 
branches, and as the world has made such marvellous progress 
and development of late, I felt that I could not but revert again 
to the old custom, by making some brief allusions to the 
advancement and progress of science. 


BY J. W. SUTTON. IX. 


Workers, in all branches of science, labour under great 
disadvantages when they are located at great distances from 
the centres of scivntific research and thought, and out of reach 
of seeing experiments and hearing discussions of the various 
learned societies, or of even getting access to what has been 
published in the various journals. Scientific books on all 
subjects of course reach us in due time, but books in these times 
are out of date almost as soon as they leave the publishers’ 
hands, therefore, for one to be up to date in the march of 
progress, it is absolutely necessary to have access to all scientific 
publications which are published, both in our own and all 
foreign languages. No doubt the question will at once suggest 
itself to you, why does not this society supply that want? The 
answer is, we have not sufficient funds ; and unfortunately our 
Society does not include in its membership workers in all 
branches. Therefore I think this is a matter well worth the 
consideration of those entrusted with the management of our 
Public Library, and let us hope that therein will be found all 
monthly publications of scientific interest, both of pure and 
applied science, no matter in what language they appear. A 
long felt want has lately been put forth, under the joint direction 
of the Physical Society and the Institution of Electrical 
Engineers of London, in the form of science abstracts, the 
abstractors being men of well known scientific ability. It 
contains short extracts from all recognised scientific journals and 
publications, with a concise reference and index, which at once 
points out to the reader where he can see the full detailed 
article or paper. But as I have already inferred, they are at 
present entirely beyond our reach. Of course, there are societies 
here, devoted to special subjects, that no doubt are able to place 
before their members up to date literature in their own particular 
branch, but this, for the Royal Society, embracing as it does all 
sciences, is simply out of the question. In fact there are too 
many societies for such a small community as Brisbane, 
and I think much betterand more work would result if a number 
of these would throw in their lot with us and work with one 
common end—the general advancement of science. Hach could 
have its own section, its special meetings if necessary, also, as 
now, its own presidentand secretary. Such an arrangement would 
go a long way towards securing a good financial position, better 
attendance at meetings, and above all, tend to bring about a 


X. PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 


closer intercourse of followers of various scientific works and 
thought, which is the object and aim of this society. 

Various attempts have been made from time to time 
to classify the sciences ; but, without success. Herbert 
Spencer classifies them thus—Abstract Science, Logic and 
Mathematics, Abstract Concrete Sciences, Mechanics, Chemistry, 
Physics and Concrete Science, Astronomy, Biology, Geology, 
Sociology, etc. It was Sir J. Herschell who said in con- 
nection with this subject, ‘‘Science is a whole, whose 
source is lost in infinity, and which nothing but the imperfectness 
of our nature obliges us to divide. We feel our nothingness in 
our attempts to grasp it, and bow with humility and adoration 
before the Supreme Intelligence, who alone can comprehend it.” 
No science rests on a firmer basis than mathematics, which, 
being founded on demonstrative evidence, may be accepted as 
absolutely true. The results in logic, which, like mathematics, 
being a deductive science, are much less certain ; still logic is 
essentially the science of the art of proof. All other sciences are 
to alarge extent inductive, these resting on probable evidence, 
and continually approaching nearer and nearer to it, as scientific 
methods improve. Thus, sciences vary in the distance they 
have moved towards perfection ; in mental and physical science, 
the former can largely be studied by reflection in our own mental 
operations, the latter requires observation, experiment and 
comparison of facts obtained, inductive and deductive reasoning, 
all ending in as wide a generalisation as the obtained 
facts will admit. No one can be a truly scientific 
student unless he places truth as a prima importance, and 
is prepared to sacrifice all preconceived ideas and elaborate 
opinions, whenever he finds them to be inerror. No expenditure 
of time, money, or even life, is considered extravagant, if the 
sacrifice be made for the discovery of new truths. The early 
stages in the evolution of science go back to remote periods of 
antiquity. Mora! science, a department of mental science, reached 
some degree of maturity first in primitive man, in a desire to 
ascertain what his conduct should be to his fellows and God-or 
Gods. Mental science or the investigation of the thinking and 
feeling mind came next, but even up to the present time has made 
but slow progress. Physical science had really commenced, 
although in its infancy, when ancient myths of observation were 
formed, many of which were hypothesis to account for natural 


BY J. W. SUTTON. XI. 


phenomena, its progress being slow until the eighteenth century , 
since which time its progress has been rapidly increasing. Prior to 
this, the greatest advances were in astronomy and physics, then in 
chemistry, botany, etc., geology not attracting much attention 
until the beginning of the present century. The nineteenth 
century has been so prolific in scientific and mechanical invent- 
ions that doubts may be expressed as to whether the rate at 
which discoveries and inventions are now introduced will 
continue, or whether we are becoming too clever and are likely 
to come to a full stop. But as science knows no finality, so also 
will invention know no finality, as circumstances increase, and 
mankind’s dominion over tho earth, sea, and air, becomes more 
pronounced, new wants will arise and new means of supplying 
old ones will be devised. The time was when science was 
cultivated only by the few, who looked upon its application to 
the arts and manufactures as almost beneath their consideration. 
This they were content to leave in the hands of others who, 
with only commercial ends in view, did not aspire to further the 
objects of science for its own sake, but thought only of benefitting 
by its teachings. Progress could not be rapid under these con- 
ditions, because the investigator into pure science, rarely pursues 
his investigations beyond the physical and chemical principle, 
while the simple practitioner is at a loss to know how to 
harmonise new knowledge with the stock of information which 
forms his mental capital in trade. The world owes much to 
those ardent students of nature, who in their devotion to 
scientific research, do not allow their aims to travel into the 
region of utilitarianism and self interest: but it is not to them 
that we can look for present progress in practical or applied 
science, it is to the man of science who also gives his attention 
to practical questions, and to the practitioner who devotes part 
of his time to the prosecution of strictly scientific investigation, 
that we owe the rapid progress of the day, the advancement of 
which has rendered theory and practice, or science and art, so 
interdependent that an intimate union between them is a matter 
of absolute necessity for future progress. Theory and practice 
must go hand in hand. Although it may be somewhat heretical 
to say, in these days of division of labour, I see no reason why a 
Bachelor of Arts should not be able to make a door, or a B.Sc. 
work and attend a lathe. Science and art naturally stand to 
each other, as cause and effect. Professor Abbe of the U.S. 


XII. PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS, 


Weather Bureau, gives the following very pretty illustration, of 
how a simple mechanical act has its relation to physical 
science :—‘‘ Kverywhere one is confronted with the laws of force. 
If you strike a smart blow upon the head of a cold chisel, and 
make a cut into a piece of soft iron, you are doing one of the 
simplest mechanical operations, and yet you are awakening a 
long series of reactions that invade nearly every branch of 
physical science. First, the muscles respond to the eye and the 
will, the hammer moves with great acceleration, and strikes 
straight and hard, the energy of the blow comes from the 
chemical transformation going on within the workman’s body, 
suggesting problems that belong to the profoundest depths of 
Biology. Secondly, the stroke of the hammer calls forth a clear 
and cheerful sound from the head of the chisel, a musical ring, 
with all its problems in acoustics. Thirdly, the hammer, the 
steel chisel, the soft iron and the chips, become warm and hot, 
under repeated blows, suggesting problems in Thermo Dynamies, 
radiation and conduction of heat. Fourthly, the edge of the 
hard chisel becomes dull, but a deep gash is cut in the soft iron, 
eventually the edge of the chisel breaks, all of which results are 
explained by the study of the science of elasticity, as applied to 
the flow of solids and the exhaustion of metals. Fifthly, 
a better chisel is picked out and the hammering goes 
on all day without harm to the tool, proving that its 
chemical and physical properties differ from the one that is 
easily broken. If the anvil be of stone, and both it and hammer 
be insulated and connected with an electrometer, every stroke 
would be seen to produce electricity.”” Thus we see in such a 
simple operation the manifold and intricate connection between 
the sciences and arts, so we see how all practice has its theory, 
and the better man is he who takes, as it were, both into his 
confidence, and runs them harmoniously together. It has been 
said, and it i. a truth incapable of being gainsaid, that science 
must be joined tv practice in the advancing competition of the 
world, in order that a nation may retain the strength and energy 
of manhood. It is certain that the prosperity of a country de- 
pends mainly on the extent and variety of its natural products, 
and the manner in which they are utilised: Such being the 
case, what a great future awaits this colony of Queensland, a 
country which contains, one might say, the whole list of elements 
known to science, awaiting development by enterprise and capital, 


BY J. W. SUTTON. XIII. 


where both can be employed in peace and security, while at the 
same time it is being so lavishly expended in foreign lands where 
the danger of losing both is a factor always to be reckoned with. 
Our pastoral, agricultural, and mining capabilities know no 
bounds, and yet so little has been done to give our rising genera- 
tions that rightful and necessary amount of scientific education, 
to enable them to utilize and make the best uses of that which 
nature has so abundantly bestowed upon them and placed at their 
disposal. It is true a small beginning has been made in the 
Agricultural College, where the farming youth can learn the 
science of his own industry, and it is gratifying to learn that at 
last we are to have a University and School of Mines, and let us 
hope that, when these are an established fact, no niggardly 
hand will guide them in the selection of management, and that 
we shall be in a position to impart to the students 
learning at least equal to those of older colonies. While re- 
marking on this subject, it may not be out of place to state that 
the thanks of the Queensland public are due to those gentlemen 
who formed the committee of the Brisbane School of Arts in 
former years, who undertook and successfully supplied a want of 
secondary education, by the nursing under very great difticulties 
to maturity the Brisbane Technical College, which is now 
rendering such good service in the cause of technical education. 
But the limited means at their disposal, and want of adequate 
accommodation and apparatus, is very discouraging to those 
who give their time and labour in carrying on the work, a work 
which deserves, and is entitled to, as much sympathy and support, 
as either the Agricultural College, University, or a School of 
Mines. 

The rapid progress ofapplied Chemistry in recent years has 
so combined itself with every industry that no prosperous, well- 
regulated manufactory is now without its chemical or physical 
laboratory, according to the arts or occupation for which it is 
designed to benefit. Chemistry is concerned with the most 
common acts of our ordinary life, and it is literally true that 
there is not a moment in which we do not hold the infinite in 
our hands. Of chemists themselves, the men who have studied 
the various forms of matter, and have gradually and surely 
brought it to the point and perfection it has reached at the 
present time, belonged to various nations. In our own country 
we had Professor Black, the most methodical of men ; Priestly, 


XIV. PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 


erratic, but original and full of new discoveries; Dalton, 
essentially a thinker, rather than experimenter ; Davy, the most 
brilliant and enthusiastic of English workers; Cavendish, the 
careful worker and founder of many branches of experimental 
chemistry ; Graham, the atomist and forerunner of the physical 
chemist of to-day; and Faraday, the perfect type of scientific 
student of nature. France produced such men as Lavoisier, 
the founder of scientific chemistry, one of the greatest names in 
the history of science, and who, by his own countrymen, was 
sacrificed to the guillotine; Dumas, also a Frenchman, a 
most enthusiastic chemist and brilliant writer, who lived at the 
time when organic chemistry began. Germany, also claims a 
fair share, Liebig, a monument of honour to his nation; Humboldt, 
a worker in all science; Wohler, one of the greatest workers in 
organic chemistry ; and Hoffman, the greatest organic chemist ; 
not forgetting Professor Bunsen, who has so recently passed 
away. Sweden also stands in the front rank of chemistry, by 
the labours of Schele and Berzelius. Italy can justly be proud 
of Avogadro and Cannizzaro, and their works. Russia can also 
put forward its claim to representation, and among chemists 
none more distinguished for accurate imagination than 
Mendeleeff. Of course there are very great numbers of other 
distinguished names, but the few will suffice to show that science 
knows no nationality. Research of late has chiefly been 
confined to investigations in organic compounds and in high 
and low temperatures. Six new elements have been discovered 
and isolated, viz. :—Argon, Helium, Crypton, Neon, Metargon, 
and Victorium, the former five being gases from the atmosphere 
and mineral sources, the latter an earthy mineral found associated 
with the Yttrium Groups. Thus, the list of elements is 
gradually increasing, notwithstanding the ideas held by most 
leading scientists a few years back, that as time would enable 
us to obtain more perfect appliances and analysis, they would most 
likely disclose that some of the so-called elements would be found 
to be compounds, and hydrogen was looked upon to play an 
important part in their composition ; but, up to the present the 
stablity of the elements has not been shaken, although 
hydrogen has been liquefied and solidfied, and found 
to be similar in appearance to frozen water ; and 
in it we have, owing to the enormously low temperature 
of solid hydrogen, a new weapon for further investigation. 


BY J. W. SUTTON, XV. 


Synthetical Chemistry has made great strides since Berthelot’s 
discovery of the formation of acetyline with its elements, carbon 
and hydrogen, in 1862, and it is to this branch of chemica] 
science, that we are indebted at the present time for about 180 
compounds of the hydro-carbon series, which are capable of 
being formed by direct union of their elements ; also by the great 
variety of beautiful colours and shades, used in calico and other 
printing, it is estimated that a saving of between two and three 
million pounds annually has been effected by the artificia] 
manufacture from tar waste products, to the calico printers and 
dyers. This industry which was at one time almost entirely 
in English manufacturing hands, has practically now become a 
German industry, for the simple reason that the German manu- 
facturer is either a trained chemist or has the good sense to 
understand that the problems at the root of the industry are to 
be trusted only to those with a sound scientific knowledge. 
This is one of the many instances in which Germany, if not 
actually outstripping, are running the English manufacturers very 
closely, more especially in chemical industries, and the reason is 
not far to seek, when we learn the amount of money, care and 
attention that is bestowed on Technical Education in that 
country—indeed some large employers make it compulsory that 
all their apprentices shall attend Technica] Classes, at least two 
evenings per week, to learn the science of their own particular 
industry. Thus are produced workmen who are ever on the 
alert to improve and cheapen the cost of his own products, 
instead of mere automatons. It is gratifying to learn that, 
after having discovered the primary cause of our neighbour’s 
prosperity, we have taken the hint, and by similar means are 
widely establishing universities, technical schools, and national 
physical laboratories, where sound theoretical, practical and 
scientific education can be obtained by all seeking it. The 
deficiency of such knowledge or theory by a large majority of 
inventors, and the enormous waste of time, energy and money, 
bestowed upon useless and impossible contrivances, must be 
glaringly apparent to anyone who studies the patents record of 
various nations, which might have been saved, had the 
inventor understood the fundamental principle of Thermo 
Dynamics, Jules’ Law, that the unit of heat can only do 772 
foot pounds of work, and inventors proposing to violate that 


law must either be deficient in theory, or lending themselves 
L 


XVI. PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 


to fraud. It is now about twenty years past, in 1878, when 
scientific interest was awakened by the experiments, then being 
carried out by Cailletet of Paris and Pictet of Geneva, in 
the liquefaction of the gaseous elements. Very little having 
been done since the time of Faraday. Up to that date, although 
a number of the more dense gases were liquefied by him, 
some five or six resisted all atterupts and ingenuity of the time, 
and some of these were looked upon as being beyond the pos- 
sibility of liquefaction, so were thought to be permanent gases, 
until Pictet demonstrated the fact by liquefying oxygen and so 
upsetting the theory of permanency. He reasoned that if permanent 
gases are not capable of liquefying, we must conclude that their 
atoms do not attract each other, and this does not conform to 
the law of cohesion. Since the time of these researches and ex- 
periments, gas compression and liquefaction has become a large 
industry. It has completely revolutionised the aerated water 
manufacturing, and a large business is done in compressed 
ammonia for the frozen meat trade, compressed oxygen and 
hydrogen, both for lighting and inflating military balloons, and 
nitrous oxide so familiar to those who have occasion to visit the 
dentist. Hydrogen, as was to be expected, being the lightest 
element, was the last of the gases to yield, and it is to Professors 
Dewar and Ramsay that we owe much for their labors in that 
direction. Hydrogen has not only been liquefied but frozen 
solid. Much speculation was indulged in as to what solid 
hydrogen would be like, it was expected by some to be metallic 
in appearance, something like mercury, but it turns out to be 
very much like ordinary ice, its temperature being 247° below 
zero Centigrade, or 26° above absolute zero, it boils at 238" below 
zero, or 35° above absolute zero. Air at once liqueties and 
freezes on the outside of a tube containing boiling hydrogen, the 
exact temperature not yet being definitely settled; owing to the 
difficulty of constructing a reliable thermometer, but these figures 
are very nearly true. Absolute zero being 273° Cent. below zero, 
the certainty of there being a real zero was deduced from the 
fact that a regular rise or fall in the temperature of a gas, pro- 
duces a corresponding increase or decrease in the volume, and 
when it was noted that a gas could be doubled in volume by 
raising the temperature from the artificial zero, of the Centigrade 
scale, to 273° Cent. the converse result was apparent. Hence, it 
was pointed out that if a rise in temperature of 275° Cent., would 


BY J. W. SUTTON, XVII. 


increase the volume of gas by an amount equal to the original 
bulk, a similar decrease in the original volume would require a 
reduction of the temperature to 273° Cent. below zero, or equal 
to 459° below ice temperature, Fahrenheit, which is agreed to 
be the real absolute zero. This is not a creation of the imagina- 
tion by any means, a gas exists in that particular state owing to 
the molecules causing vibrations—more heat more rapid the 
vibrations, less heat less vibrations, no heat no vibrations, the 
point to which a gas can be cooled, until it can shrink in volume 
no further. When Fahrenheit devised the scale of our ordinary 
thermometer in 1714 he appears to have concluded that a mix- 
ture of chloride of ammodia and snow, produced the most in- 
tense cooling effect possible, and so named the temperature thus 
obtained zero, but observations prove that in Siberia it might 
fall to 90° below this preconceived lowest point, while the 
mercury of the original Fahrenheit thermometer would freeze 
at 39° below zero. Alcohol was afterwards used for low tempera- 
ture recording, so that recent discoveries clearly point out that 
the real zaro mast be placed very much lower down the scale- 
The thermometers used in recording these low temperatures are 
the platinum resistance, based on the curious effect of intense 
cold increasing the conductivity of the metal. 

Liquid air, of which we have heard so much of late, 
and the revolution it is to play inthe near future as a motive 
power and powerful explosive, has yet to be brought within the 
limits of commerzial success and usefulness. A power that may be 
obtained at next to no cost, must be taken with the proverbial 
grain of salt, and looked upon in the light of the Keely motor. 
Still there is no doubt that there is a large and useful sphere 
oOp2n to it, owing to its great exp nsive power, being 800 times 
its own volume, and the material to be had for the taking, and 
at the present time a large amount of machinery is being 
erected, to supply this article for cold storage and other purposes, 
for which it is proposel to supply it at 9d. per gallon, with possible 
reductions to half that amount. ‘Thus we have that which was 
only a short time back a chemical curiosity of the laboratory 
produced only by the drops, followed by larger quantities avail- 
able for experimental purposes, and now we have the announce- 
ments among the articles of the month, of the completion of 
commercial plants to supply thousands of gallons per day. The 
story of liquid air is but a repletion of that of aluminium, and 


XVIII, PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 


calcium carbide, once a rarity in the laboratory, then a rare 
material, at so many shillings per ounce, almost ranging with 
precious metals, and then, all at once, brought by methods of 
practical Electro Chemistry, into the market as a commercial 
product, with innumerable applications in the Arts. Aluminium, 
a beautiful metal, and one of the most plentiful on the 
earth, is steadily working its way into the arts and manufactures, 
just so surely and steadily as its cost of production is lessening, 
The metal was first isolated by Wobler in 1827, but remained 
as one of the rare metals until 1855, when Deville and Bunsen 
reduced small quantities by Electrolysis, but the process was 
found to be far too costly (£20 per lb.) to be of any commercial 
value. From this time up to 1884, numerous furnace smelting 
and reduction by sodium methods, were employed, which 
gradually reduced the cost to 70s. per lb., still a prohibitive 
price ; but through the introduction of modern electric machinery 
driven by water power, such as Niagara, the electrolitic process 
has again been reverted to, and that which cost, forty years ago, 
400s. per lb., is being now made by a similar process by modern 
appliances at 1s. 4d. per lb., thus making it bulk for bulk, cor- 
responding in price to brass, and taking its place with the 
common metals. The tensile strain in relation to weight, pure 
aluminium is as strong as steel of over 80,0001b. per square 
inch. The total production of this metal in the year 1882 was 
only 83 lbs., but since that date to the present time has risen to 
something like 4,000,000 lbs. per annum. The greatest use is as 
alloys with other metals, particularly copper. The lightness of 
aluminium, its non-corrosive properties, and the fact that it is 
antiseptic, renders it a most suitable metal for surgical and 
optical instruments. 

ArtiriciaL Licutme.—Of all that trends to the comfort 
and well-being of mankind, good artificial light stands 
pre-eminent. Imagine us to-day being suddenly reverted 
back to the use of the old tallow and wax candle? why, life would 
become unendurable. The ruddy lights and picturesque 
shadows faithfully handed on to us by Rembrandt’s pictures 
point very clearly to what our poets called the dim glimmer of 
the taper. The advancement in artificial lighting has played 
no small part in the advent of science and civilization. A few 
years before the introduction of coal gas, Argand by his improve- 
ment in burners for oil lamps, enabled our Fathers to 


BY J. W. SUTTON, XIX. 


appreciate for the first time the comforts of a white light; 
and thus the oil lamps replaced in a great measure the 
candle. But it was not until 1848, when Dr. Lyon 
Playfair called attention to the oozing of petroleum from 
the coal seams, then with the discovery of mineral oils 
in America and Russia, which brought forth the birth of present 
kerosene oil lamps, which has steadily improved until it 
has now about reached the climax of perfection. Prior to the 
introduction of electric lighting, improvements in gas and gas- 
burning were few and far between, and it was only by Act of 
Parliament that gas companies were compelled to supply 
consumers with an article of standard light and quality, in fact, 
gas companies the world over did just what they pleased ; but 
within the past sixteen years a great change has come over the 
scene, electric light companies having given them a shock that 
has awakened them into a new life and activity, meaning better 
quality of gas, new and improved burners, and cheaper rates ; 
and one of the chief factors in enabling them to hold their own 
is that beautiful invention now so familiar to us all, the Welsbach 
incandescent mantle. This has been greatly improved since its 
introduction about eight years ago, thorium being the metal 
now used in its construction. Still, for a perfect light both for 
health and comfort, the electric incandescent light stands alone ; 
it takes nothing from the air and gives nothing to it, excepting 
a small quantity of heat—less than any other known illuminant ; 
it costs less to install, and if properly done is the safest, If the 
cost could be brought down to that of gas, as burnt in the 
Welsbach burners, it would be universally used. This brings us 
now to the last and latest rival in artificial lighting, viz., 
Acetylene. It is now some seventy years past since Edmond 
Davey, a relation of the great Sir Humphrey, while ex- 
perimenting in the process of the manufacture of sodium and 
potassium, noticed that a black residuum was at times formed 
in the retort, which, practically had the same power of 
decomposing water as potassium, only that the gas evolved by 
the decomposition was, instead of being hydrogen, a compound 
of that element with carbon. The proportion in which these 
two elements united differed from the composition of any 
hydrocarbon then known. The material so formed in the retort 
being a compound of carbon and potassium, which we know 
now as potassic carbide, while the new hydrocarbon then given 


XX, PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 


to the world, was a compound of 24 parts by weight of carbon, 
with 2 of hydrogen, which we now call Acetylene. Twenty- 
years later the French chemist, Berthelot, made a series of 
researches on this gas and proved that as the electric arc passed 
between carbon electrodes in an atmosphere of hydrogen, direct 
combination took place between small particles of both elements 
and thus Acetylene was synthetically produced, and so it was 
Berthelot who gave it its name, and as such it remained until 
1862, when the German chemist, Wohler, discovered that on 
fusing an alloy of zinc and calcium at a high temperature with 
carbon, a compound of carbon and calcium was formed, now 
known as calcium carbide, and showed that this body in 
contact with water, gave rise to Acetylene gas, so it may 
be said that with this year 1862, through thelabours of Berthelot 
and Wohbler, it was understood and placed in the list of rar® 
chemicals, and as such it remained for thirty years until 1892. 
Then commenced the present era of activity in the history of 
Acteylene, which brings it forth from a condition of a rare 
chemical to that of a commercial article, destined to play no 
small part in the world of commerce. About this period Wilson 
of Canada, experimenting with the electric furnace, noticed the 
formation of calcic carbide under certain conditions, and he 
prepared a large quantity, by direct fusing of lime and carbon. 
The process being simple when the desired heat can be obtained, 
and the introduction of the electric furnace gives us a mean to 
that end, lime being a most refractory substance is mixed with 
coke in a suitable crucible, and a powerful arc set up therein, 
metallic calcium is formed which immediately unites with the 
surplus carbon, and produces carbide of calcium, it being very 
much like in appearance to greyish crystalline lime stone, 1b. 
of which should produce five cubic feet of gas, giving a light for 
five hours equal to 240 candles. Calcium carbide on being 
brought in contact with water, a change of elemerts takes place, 
the carbon unites with the hydrogen of the water, and escapes 
as acetylene, the oxygen of the water uniting with the calcium, 
remains as oxide of calcium or slacked lime. The simplicity of 
decomposition has brought forth hundreds of inventions of 
machinery for generating the gas, of which very few are reliable 
in their action, chiefly owing to the want of technical knowledge 
of their designers. As to the ultimate position of acetylene in 
competing with coal gas as an illuminant, there can be no 


BY J. W. SUTTON. XXII. 


question that in large towns, coal gas can and will hold its own, 
but for places beyond the limit of supply, a large field is open 
to acetylene, but at present, owing to the prejudice against a 
new and untried article, high rates of carriage, heavy royalties, 
insufficient and intermittent supply, mitigate much against 
its adoption. Still, at the present time there are about fifty 
odd works running and in course of construction, with a 
production of about 30,000 tons per annum, yet the demand 
is far above the supply, and now as I write these notes, I 
learn that a method has been devised whereby the mixing of 
the gas with some inert matter, it can be sent out from the gas 
holder through mains and burnt in the ordinary gas fittings. 

Evecrro Merratturcy.—The progress of electrolysis and 
electro metallurgy, has within the past few years been 
very rapid and great. Electrolysis and electrolitic methods, 
being now largely used in chemical analysis, in preference 
to older chemical practice, it being much quicker and very 
accurate, and now that we are able to transform the energy 
stored in coal, into electric energy with a minimum 
of loss, and also to transmit that power from sources of 
cheap production, such as water power, the electrolitic 
production of materials has extended enormously, in fact, it 
has entirely revolutionised the chemical industry. In metallurgy 
the most extensive application of electrolysis have been in con- 
nection with the refining of copper from the impure matte 
produced by the smelting furnace. There was in operation in 
1897 five electrolitic refiners in Germany, four in France, five in 
England, two in Russia, and eleven in the United States. I 
have only been able to obtain the output of the American eleven 
works for 1896, but it will be sufficient to show, and also what 
the future will be of this comparatively new and rising industry, 
made possible only by the late developments of modern dynamo 
machinery. Thus from eleven works out of twenty-seven no less 
than 124,000 tons of copper, 14,000,0000zs. of silver, and 
70,0000zs. of gold was produced. As the process is now em- 
ployed, the anode consists of the impure copper, and the cathode 
of pure copper, the bath being an acid solution of sulphate of 
copper. Electrolysis is also employed for the separation of nickel 
from copper, and from gold, silver, and platinum. In these 
cases the anodes are the matte containing the various metals, 
and the cathodes are sheets of pure copper, the bath being dilute 


XXII. PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 


sulphuric acid, the copper going to the cathode, the nicxel dis- 
solving in the bath, while the gold, silver, and platinum, fall in 
the form of sludge, the nickel being subsequently separated 
electrolitically, using insoluble anodes of lead or carbon, and 
cathodes of nickel. A large amount of attention has been given 
to the electrolitic production of zinc. There are many difticul- 
ties, however, in connection with the practical commercial ap- 
plication of electricity to this metal. Its solutions are poor con- 
ductors, the metal is frequently deposited in a spongy state, and 
above all, the low market price of zine renders an electrical pro- 
cess almost too expensive. The process of Seimens and Halske, 
and Hoepfner, have both met with some success, but the best 
results so far have been obtained by the Ashcroft method, in 
which a solution is obtained by treating oxide of zine with ferric 
chloride, and electrolysed. This process has been used ona large 
scale at Broken Hill, but it is not yet altogether demonstrated 
that the commercial economy of any of the processes is satisfac- 
tory unless the recovery of the more valuable associated metals 
are included. At the present time the various processes of electro 
metallurgy may fairly be considered to have passed the 
experimental stage, and while there are doubtless many improve- 
ments to be made, there is every possibility that in the near 
future, the electrolitic tank will in very many instances 
replace altogether the more primitive furnace. 

Wiretess TELEGRAPHY.—Professor Oliver Lodge has said, 
that at the end of the eighteenth century, the wonder was that 
you should be able to signal with wires ; now at the end of this 
nineteenth century, the wonder is that you should be able to 
signal without wires. Telegraphing without wires has been the 
dream and aim of electricians for the past thirty years or more, 
and if anyone were to ask me who discovered wireless telegraphy, 
I should unhesitatingly say Professor Hughes, not that I desire 
in the slightest degree to detract one iota of merit from Marconi, 
whose research and ingenuity has made it a practical success, 
and who deserves all the honour and merit attached thereto; 
but at the same time one cannot help sympathising with 
Professor Hughes, after having’ spent years of labour and 
research, and actually demonstrating the fact, to be deprived of 
the honour appertaining thereto. Im 1879 Hughes found that 
electric sparks from an induction coil or frictional machine, 
acted on the surrounding medium in form of waves, the laws of 


BY J. W. SUTTON. XXIII. 


which at that time he could not understand. The following is 
his own description of experiments in December, 1879: ‘I 
invited several persons to see the result then obtained, and 
amongst others who called and saw my results were W. H. 
Preece, Sir W. Crookes, Sir W. R. Austin, Professor G. Adams, 
M. W. Grove, M. Spottswoode, Professor Huxley, Sir G. G. 
Stokes, and Professor Dewar. ‘They all saw the experiments 
in aerial transmission by means of the extra current produced 
from a small coil, and received upon a semi-metallic microphone ; 
the transmitter and receiver were in different rooms, about 60 
feet apart. After trying all distances allowed in my residence, 
my usual method was to put the transmitter in operation and 
walk up and down Great Portland-street with the receiver in my 
hands and the telephone to the ear. The sounds seemed to 
slightly increase for a distance of 60 yards and gradually 
diminish, until at 500 yards I could hear no longer with a certainty 
the transmitted signals. The experiments shown were most 
successful, and at first they seemed astonished at the results, 
but towards the close of three hours’ experiments Professor 
Stokes said that all the results could be explained by known 
electro-magnetic induction effects, and therefore he could not 
accept my views of actual aerial electric waves, unknown up to 
that time. Iwas so discouraged at being unable to convince 
them of the truth of these aerial electric waves, that I actually 
refused to write a paper on the subject, until I was_ better 
prepared to demonstrate the existence of these waves, and I con- 
tinued my experiments for some years, in hopes of arriving at a 
perfect scientific demonstration of the existence of aerial 
electric waves produced by a spark, from the extra current 
in induction coils, or from frictional electricity. ”’ st i 
the triumphant demonstration of these waves, was reserved to 
Professor Hertz, who by his masterly researches upon the subject 
in 1887 and 1889, completely proved not only their existence, 
but their identity with ordinary light, in having the power of 
being reflected and refracted, by means of which the length of 
the waves could be measured. Hertz’s experiments were far more 
conclusive than Hughes, although he used a much less effective 
receiver than the microphone or coherer, and now as we all 
know, Marconi has lately demonstrated that by the use of the 
Hertzian waves, and Branley’s coherer he has been able to 
transmit and receive aerial electric waves, to greater distances 


XXIV. PRESIDENTIAL AEDRESS. 


than previously ever dreamed of by the numerous discoverors 
and inventors, who have laboured silently in this field, and his 
efforts at demonstrating, merit the success he has received, and 
the world be right in placing his name on the highest pinnacle 
in relation to Aérial Telegraphy, but there is no doubt that had 
Professor Hughes, received the encouragement due to him from 
eminent scientists, the discovery of Aérial Telegraphy would have 
dated back 20 years ago. 

Aérial navigation has been the dream of speculative minds 
ever since Rozier made the first ascent ever attempted, some 200 
years ago. Volumes could be written of the various contrivances, 
mishaps and misfortunes, that have attended aerial experiments, 
but of late, since the introduction of aluminium owing to its 
lightness, a fresh impetus has been given to this subject, and 
there seems to be some hope that at no distant date, aerial 
navigation will at least meet with some measure of success, not- 
withstanding all the disasters and failures of the past. Confidence 
in a successful issue still prevails in the minds of many practical 
men. The importance of such an innovation must be patent to 
all. At the present time there is being constructed in Germany 
such an aérial ship, which is expected to plough its way through 
the regions of the air, as the Atlantic liner glides over the ocean. 
This vessel is being built on a floating pontoon, and has the out- 
ward appearance of an iron-clad war vessel, but as delicate in 
structure as a gigantic bird-cage. The framing is entirely of 
aluminium, together with all the fittings and utensils. The pro- 
pelling machine is of the lightest description, internally she is 
floated by balloons, her speed is to be 22 miles per hour and a 
total lifting capacity of 10 tons. Her cost is something over 
£70,000, and we may hear very soon of the first trial of this 
novel and expensive venture, as much is expected from this event, 
since such an amount of money and skill has never before been 
expended on such an enterprise. All calculations have been so 
accurately made, every contingency so carefully considered, each 
possibility of failure so cautiously guarded against, that we can- 
not but hope that success will follow. 

So while we have in Germany experiments going on in 
Aérial Navigation, we have at the same time, both in France and 
America, submarine navagation receiving a large amount of 
attention and experiment, especially in France quite a flotilla 
of these vessels of various designs have been built, from the 


BY J. W. SUTTON. XXYV. 


“‘Gustave Zede”’ to the present latest, the ‘‘ Narval.’’ This boat is 
propelled by oil engines for surface work, and electric accumul- 
ators for submerged propelling, which are sufficient to propel 
her, at surface, 250 miles at 8 knots per hour; her displacement 
being 160 tons. The “ Argonaut’ and ‘ Holland”’ of the 
Americans are both said to have done marvellous work on their 
trials, but at the present their scope does not appear to be 
beyond a usefulness for harbour defence ; however they seem to 
bid fair to compete with the ‘‘ Nautilus” of extravagant fiction. 
When Jules Verne wrote his description of this boat, every one 
was taken with the strangeness of the idea. The author had 
merely collected together a number of old and new theories and 
clothed his conception in seemingly practical garb. Swift’s 
account of the Island of Laputa, was based upon a curiously 
distorted theory of magnetism, sufficiently possible to make it 
interesting ; and Buller Lytton’s ‘‘ Coming Race,” in so far as 
Vril is concerned, turns upon a little more than the successful 
storage of electricity of high potential. 

And now in conclusion let me add just a few words of tribute 
to our parent, the Royal Society of London, which has for the 
past 250 years, been an eye witness of the birth, rise, and pro- 
gress of science; one which has at all times embraced within its 
membership the brightest scientific intellects of all nations, and 
one which recognises that ‘‘ honour and fame from no condition 
rise.’’ A society from which all other societies, special in their 
character have sprung, and it may well say unto itself, in the 
words of Tennyson, ‘‘ For men may come, and men my go, but 
I go on for ever.”’ 


A vote of thanks to the retiring President for his address 
was moved by the Hon. A. Norton, M.L.C., seconded by the 
Hon. Dr. Taylor, M.U.C., and carried. 

The Election of Officers for the year 1900, then took place 
with the following result :—DPresident, John Thomson. M.B. ; 
Vice-President, W. J. Byram ; Hon. Treasurer, Hon. A. Norton, 
M.L.C.; Hon. Secretary, J. F. Bailey; Hon. Librarian, R. 
Illidge; Members of Council, F. M. Bailey, F.L.8., A. G. 
Jackson, C. J. Pound, F.R.M.S., J. Shirley, B.Sc., and J. W. 
Sutton; Hon. Auditor, A. J. Turner. 

A vote of thanks was accorded to the retiring officers, after 
which the proceedings terminated. 


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END OF VOLUME XV. 


NOTES ON THE ENTOMOLOGY OF A TEA-TREE 
SWAMP. 


By R. ILLIDGE. 


[Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 18th March, 1899. | 


SompreE and forbidding as is the appearance of a tea-tree swamp, 
yet there is much of interest to the lover of nature contained 
within its limits. Many of the trees are at present in flower, 
and the leaves themselves have a pleasant aromatic smell. Bird 
life is usually abundant, parrots alone, of two or three species, 
living upon the honey contained within the blossoms. Reptiles 
also are well represented, frogs and snakes being plentiful. 
However, it is not my intention to say anything further upon the 
higher animal life of these swamps, but to give a few notes upon 
the insect life, which, beyond the mosquito, to most people 
appears almost ni/. Not so, however, is this the case, for but 
little research reveals a great variety of interesting forms. 


But few butterflies are found in the swamp, and these 
merely are attracted by the flowers, not being true denizens of it, 
though members of the pieridae feed on loranthus parasitic on 
trees around its margin, as do also several species of skippers 
and a satyrid, Melanitis leda, upon certain kinds of grass 
growing within its borders. 


Tunnelling the stems of melaleuca trees are several species 
of xylorycts, one very beautiful hepialid, charagia eximia (not, 
however, confined to the melaleuca, but frequently found therein). 
Other interesting borers which attack these trees comprise several 


species of longicorn beetles, of which the most noteworthy is 
A 


2 NOTES ON THE ENTOMOLOGY OF A TEA-TREE SWAMP. 


Symphyletes farinosus, the life history of which we have lately 
worked out. Another very pretty species is Zygocera pruinosa, 
which was found commonly along with the first mentioned. It 
is not, however, peculiar to the tea-tree, for we have obtained 
the larvee and reared the perfect insects from various eucalypts. 
Predatory upon the larve of the above is the grub of a large 
elaterid beetle, Alaus sp. Another insect observed as emerging 
from the decayed stems is a tenebrionid, belonging to the 
beautiful genus Chalcopterus. Upon coming out from the pupa, 
this insect was bright rosy, with an iridescent sheen, which soon, 
however, changed to the usual metallic blue green. Its life 
history we have not yet clearly worked out. 


Moths of many other families, the larvee of which feed upon 
these swamp plants, are plentiful enough. Bombyces are 
represented by Teara protrahens, the caterpillars of which are 
gregarious, and eat the leaves of melaleuca. The most abun- 
dantly represented family is, however, that of the pyrales, of 
which very many species are found in the swamps. One very 
singular species attached to the tea-tree is gregarious, each insect 
forming a bottle-shaped nest, or cocoon, in fact, it serves both 
purposes. They may be often found twenty or thirty together 
on one little bush. The larva comes out at the lower end, which 
is prolonged into a tube some inches in length, to feed upon the 
leaves, and usually retreats backwards immediately it is 
disturbed. 


Living in small communities, and arranged in regular order 
around the twigs, are found strange, repulsive-looking grubs. 
Posteriorly these larvee are attenuated into tail-like processes, 
which wriggle about on the slightest disturbance, and probably 
are of a protective nature, in that they cause birds and animals 
to avoid them under the impression that they are stings. Asa 
further protection, they also exude upon being touched a most 
disagreeable liquid. Neither birds nor animals appear to attack 
them. During the day-time they remain quiescent in the 
manner above mentioned, but at night they wander in search of 
food, the leaves of the twigs in their immediate vicinity. When 
full fed they burrow through the scaly bark of the tea-tree to the 
young wood, sometimes into it, and spin their cocoons. Such is 
a slight account of the saw-fly of the tea-tree. 


BY R. ILLIDGE. 3 


There are many other insects. Some conspicuous for size 
are orthopterous, and commonly known as walking-stick insects, 
one species of which, attached to the swamp mahogany, is at 
least 6 inches long in the 9, but has rather small wings, for they 
do not expand more than 21 inches, hence are more ornamental 
than useful; the 3, however, flies well, and is, for these insects, 
quite an active creature. 


However, as it would take up considerable time to go further 
into the entomology of a tea-tree swamp, I draw these very few 
notes to a conclusion, and would now respectfully draw your 
attention to the exhibit partly in connection with same, as it 
unfortunately only represents two orders of imsects, the 
lepidoptera and coleoptera. 


STONE COOKING-HOLES OF THE AUSTRALIAN 
ABORIGINES. 


By R. H. MATHEWS. 


[Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 18th March, 1899.]| 


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THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 


By W. J. BYRAM. 


[A Lecture delivered before the Royal Society of Queensland, 22nd 
April, 1899.] 


Of all the inscrutable problems for the solution of which 
man has vainly groped since his mental powers were so far 
developed as to enable him to reason the most momentous has 
been the supreme question ‘‘ What is Life?’’ We see the- 
manifold manifestations of life around us day by day in animal 
and plant; we associate with it the phenomena of spontaneous 
movement, of nutrition, of growth, of reproduction; we feel it 
in ourselves through the medium of its highest manifestation, 
our consciousness ; we arein contact with it everywhere, always ; 
and we are so intimate with it and its correlative, death, that we 
look upon both with the unquestioning eye of familiarity, and 
strangely forget that here we are in the presence of the greatest 
of all marvels, the most profound of all mysteries. We talk as 
a matter of course in a hundred varied phrases of every day life, 
of mind, of soul, of spirit; we fill our literature with beautiful 
conceptions concerning them, and our poetry especially clothes 
them in lovely images and telling metaphors; but in the silence 
of our studies—in those critical phases of our thought when the 
glamour of poetry is withdrawn and the scientific method 
dominates us we pause in awe and ask ourselves the old-time 
questions ‘“‘ What ?’’ and ‘‘ Whither?’’ Then we well know 
that if science cannot approximate to any answer to those 
questions they must rest for ever ‘‘ behind the veil.’ All the 
vast speculations, all the grandeur of thought and subtlety of 
diction of the greatest of the abstract philosophers have been 
but so much vain beating of the air in all that concerns these 
momentous problems. Not in the arena of speculative philosophy, 
not in the tenets of any theological system, but in the cautious 
method of science lies the possibility of some adumbration of 


6 THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 


the truth. But though we know that in all probability the 
problem is insoluble to our finite faculties, though we know that 
we must fail under all existing conditions to reach the life source, — 
there is a wonderful fascination in even approaching it, and in 
scrutinizing in its beginnings the mystery which afterwards 
passes through such infinitely varied phases, and culminates at 
last in that transcendent marvel conscious intelligence. There 
is a little poem of Tennyson’s which you will at once re- 
member :— 

Flower in the crannied wall 

I pluck you out of the crannies ; 

Hold you here, root and all, in my hand 

Little flower—but if I could understand 

What you are, root and all, and all in all 

I should know what God and man is. 
We have been apt to smile at that, and treat it as so much 
poetical hyperbole. But it is true notwithstanding. We cannot 
understand what the little flower is, for it involves the mystery 
of life; and though modern science is unlocking ‘‘ door by door 
of mystery,” we are nevertheless convinced that each unlocking 


will but reveal a vista of vaster mysteries beyond. 


You will remember that so profound a philosopher as 
Herbert Spencer has reminded us in his “ First Principles ” 
that of necessity explanation must eventually bring us down to 
the inexplicable, the deepest truth we can get at must be 
unaccountable ; comprehension must be something other than 
comprehension before the ultimate fact can be comprehended. 


Yet, even while the recognition of these limitations fills us 
with humility, we cannot resist the overmastering temptation of 
getting as near as we may to the threshold of the unknowable. 
We know that our quest is a struggle against the infinite, but 
the very attempt is an elevating effort, which leaves him who 
makes it with broader views and higher thoughts and nobler 
alms. 

You sit down to your microscope some evening and place on 
its stage a drop of water from some favourable locality. You 
see disclosed to your scrutiny a new world of life and beauty 
before undreamed of ; but you must be blind for awhile to all 
the seemingly more striking objects in the field of view and con- 
centrate your attention upon a certain insignificant jelly-like 
patch (Ameba), which is attached to the cover-glass; which 


BY WILLIAM J. BYRAM. 7 


displays a very slow, gradual, diffluent movement, and keeps 
putting forth parts of its substance in the form of protuberances 
or processes. There you have the whole life-problem before you, 
ere you have fairly realised that you are looking at anything at 
all. That greyish-white, glairy, albuminous-looking patch is an 
amceba, a term which means ‘formless’’; and, as the name 
implies, the ameba is a shapeless speck quite invisible to the 
naked eye. An insignificant speck truly, but a speck of a most 
marvellous substance, protoplasm, which differs from all other 
substances in having as one of its attributes life or vitality. 
Well has protoplasm been designated by the late Professor Huxley 
‘the physical basis of life,” for whether in the protozoon, or 
lowliest animal, in the protophyte or simplest plant, in a mush- 
room, in a tree, in a worm, or in a man it is the seat of the 
wonderful vital phenomena, and is the source and fount alike of 
all the bewildering complexity of the organic world. We now 
see that the understanding of Tennyson’s little flower involves 
the understanding of protoplasm ; and you might substitute for 
the complex flowering plant our amceba and apply the poet’s 
apostrophe to it equally well. The ameceba, therefore, is of pro- 
found interest to us as the type of the biological unit—the single 
cell. Here, on using the term cell for the first time, we must get 
a clear conception of what we mean. ‘The term was brought 
into prominence in the first half of the present century by two 
German biologists (Schleiden and Schwann), and they both 
defined the cell as a minute vesicle enclosing fluid contents, that 
is to say, a small chamber or cellula, in the true sense of the 
word. This conception is a good example of one of those half 
truths which are often the first fruits of the scientific method. 
The definition exactly describes the usual form of the plant cell, 
and certain forms of animal cell ; but we now know many forms 
of both the plant and animal cell in which the cell wall is 
entirely wanting. The research of the past fifty years has 
resulted in the modification of the idea of an enclosed vesicle ; 
and although we still retain the term ‘cell’’ as a convenient 
mode of referring to the biological unit, we associate with it the 
modern definition, which simply declares that the cell is a 
minute mass of protoplasm endowed with the attribute of life. 
Looking at our ameba again we see that the idea of a vesicle 
cannot be applied to it, for it has no investing membrane. All 


8 THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 


we can notice is that the outer portion of its protoplasm is 
rather denser than the inner, and is free from granules. In the 
interior the protoplasm is much more fluid and is filled with 
streaming granules. In this inner portion we observe a small 
round or oval body called the nucleus, which is of different 
chemical composition to the surrounding plasm and in which the 
vital activity seems to be centred, for it has been shown that if 
the nucleus be removed the cell may still exhibit movement and 
irritability, but can neither grow nor persist. In the diagram 
also you will observe a space marked P.Y., which stands for pul- 
sating vacuole. Kindly remember that space for I shall refer to 
it again presently. We see, too, that the creature slowly, almost — 
imperceptibly, puts out finger-like processes, which are techni- 
cally called pseudopodia, or false feet. They may well be styled 
false feet, for they are not feet at all; they are simply prolon- 
gations of the protoplasm, and they are drawn in in one place 
and put out in another indiscriminately. By means of these 
pseudopodia the amceba creeps in a sluggish diffluent way across 
the glass, and it also uses them as tentacles to enable it to 
capture food particles. This brings us to another interesting 
phase of amceba life—the way it takes its food. It is a way that 
I have often wished that I could imitate myself when I have had 
the toothache. A food particle comes in contact with the surface 
of the cell, a process is put forth on each side of it, the processes 
close round it and it is drawn into the centre of the cell, where 
the nutrient matter is absorbed. You know the Yankee slang 
phrase which represents a man as ‘ getting outside of’’ his 
victuals. The amceba realises that to perfection, and I have seen 
it in its sluggish way ‘‘ get outside of’’ an immense meal of 
small things. Such aldermanic feeding powers cause the 
creature to increase in bulk, and when such increase has pro- 
ceeded far enough it sets to work to reproduce its species. This 
is an equally simple process. A constriction appears in its 
nucleus and gradually the cell divides into two cells, each of them 
the counterpart of the original, though of course smaller in size. 
It is on this account that Professor Weismann has declared that 
under favourable conditions the ameba is immortal, that is, that 
it would go on subdividing in this way indefinitely. But we now 
know that this is not the case. After a certain number of 
subdivisions the momentum seems to be lost; and it appears to 


BY WILLIAM J. BYRAM. 9 


be restored by a remarkable reversal of the process. Occasionally 
two amceba are seen to approach each other, to meet, and 
gradually fuse into one. There is an interchange of nuclear 
material, and the result of the fusion is renovated powers of 
reproduction by subdivision. If you ask me why this union and 
interchange should effect this result, 1 can only answer ‘‘ behind 
the veil.”’ But while you have been looking at your ameba ina 
spirit of lofty criticism, you have been forgetting one little fact. 
If the ameba was not a remote ancestor of your own, something 
very like it was. It isa striking confirmation of this fact that 
the ova or egg cells from which the higher organisms are 
developed are in their earlier stages indistinguishable from 
amoebae. 

The diagram shows the young stages of the ova or egg-cells. 
They are minute nucleated masses of protoplasm, from 1/200th 
to 1/220th of an inch in diameter, which put out processes or 
pseudopodia, perform the amceboid movements, and correspond 
very closely with the ordinary form of the amceba. The mature 
ovum, of which a diagram is now projected, has secreted a thin 
translucent cell wall, and neither puts out processes nor exhibits 
amcebiform motions. If you did not remember its earlier phases 
you might not consider that there was any analogy whatever 
between it and the ameba. But the correspondence is very 
strikingly shown by the fact that the amceba itself at certain 
times assumes what is known as the encysted condition, when it 
draws in all its processes, develops a cell-wall, and no longer 
shows the streaming and diftluent movements characteristic of 
the ordinary form. We thus see that the usual phase of the 
amceba corresponds to the young stage of the egg-cell, and the 
encysted amceba to the mature ovum. The ameeba, therefore, 
begins to assume an interest and importance for us that we had 
not thought. That in the ontogeny of each one of us there was 
a time, when we were what it is, isan incontestable fact, and, 
knowing this, we have no difficulty in realising what the law of 
evolution declares, that in our phylogeny or race-history the 
amceba represents one of our earliest ancestors. The ancient 
Egyptians used to have a skeleton at their feasts, with a 
memento, ‘‘ Such as he is you soon will be’’; but the memento 
before me lately has related to the beginning, for I never look at 
an amceba without thinking, ‘‘ Such as it is so once were you.” 
If you still think that you have no connection with such a 


10 THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE, 


diffluent jelly speck as the amceba, just run a penknife blade into 
the back of your wrist, put a drop of your blood on a slide, 
dilute it slightly, put a cover glass on it, and examine it with a 
high power. You will see what is now thrown on the screen. 
Amongst the red blood globules, or corpuscles, you will notice, if 
you observe patiently, something which will make you exclaim, 
‘That is very like an amceba; are there amcebae in my blood ?” 
Yes, the leucocytes or white corpuscles of the blood are the 
analogues of amcebae, they perform the amcboid movements, 
put out processes, multiply by subdivision, and ingest solid 
particles, chiefly the bacteria which gain entrance to the system. 
This is beautifully shown in the two very remarkable and typical 
preparations made by Mr. Pound, the slides of which he has been 
so kind as to lend me. In the first you will see that the leucocyte 
is winning the day; it keeps intact, and is demolishing the 
invading bacilli. In the next the invaders are victorious, and 
the leucocyte is undergoing disruption, with the result that the 
death of the animal would ensue. 


What then is protoplasm ? That question brings us to the 
threshold of the unknowable. Protoplasm is not a single 
chemical substance. It is a vast complex of a large number of 
chemical substances known as proteids. These proteids are 
themselves, even looked at singly, the most complex of all known 
organic substances. To take an instance, certain ambitious 
chemists have endeavoured to express the molecule of one of 
them, egg albumen, by the formula C72, H106, N18, S022, 
meaning that in its composition 72 parts of carbon, 106 parts of 
hydrogen, 18 parts of nitrogen, 1 part of sulphur, and 22 parts 
of oxygen are united in chemical combination. Considering that 
this is an approximation to the composition of one of the 
proteids, and that protoplasm is a complex of proteids influencing 
and reacting on each other in ways we cannot at present even 
dream of, you will realise with what a baffling mystery we are 
confronted. The scientific writers of a few decades back were 
accustomed to speak of the homogeneity of protoplasm and of 
the structureless character of the cell, and the poets still glibly 
affirm, like Sir Lewis Morris, that science has 


Thrust life to its utmost home, 


Aspeck of grey, no more nor higher. 


BY WILLIAM J. BYRAM. iii 


A speck of grey, truly, but that speck in itself a labyrinth of 
matter, a laboratory of chemical activities utterly baffling in their 
bewildering complexity. Bearing in mind then that remarks 
about the homogeneity of protoplasm and the structureless 
nature of the cell are defective, let us pass on to scrutinize some 
further examples of cells. Turning back to our microscope, we 
shall not unlikely observe a whitish-grey spherical body, rayed 
like the small diagrams of the sun given in the text books of 
physical geography. | This is the sun-animaleule, or actinophrys 
sol, as it is called scientifically, an organism very little higher in 
the scale of being than the ameba. It consists of but a single 
cell, a speck of protoplasm, which contains in its interior a 
number of empty spaces or vacuoles. At one side is a remarkable 
round space, which opens and closes with a regular rythmic 
pulsation like a minute colourless heart; this space, known as 
the pulsating or contractile vacuole, which we also saw in the 
amoeba, seems to indicate a kind of rudimentary respiration. 
The water in which the sun-animalcule and amceba live has 
oxygen gas dissolved in it, and through the contractile vacuole 
the oxygenated water is distributed through the various spaces 
of the cell. The ameeba and the sun-animalcule cannot live in 
water which has been boiled, and from which consequently all 
the oxygen has been expelled, and if we keep the cover glass of 
the live cage upon them they become languid, and afterwards 
break to pieces. ‘There is, therefore, certainly a process of 
respiration. The sun-animalcule feeds and reproduces by sub- 
division in the same simple way as the ameeba. And here again 
the subdividing process cannot go on indefinitely, for occasionally 
there is a union of two individuals as a prelude to increased 
powers of subdivision. How wonderful that all the essential 
vital functions should be present in that minute jelly speck! 
Having no stomach, it feeds and digests; having no respiratory 
apparatus, it performs the equivalent of breathing; having no 
nerves, it feels the slightest touch of any small creature that 
strikes its rays, for they bend together at the contact ; having no 
eyes, it is so sensitive to light that it will shift to the side of a 
glass trough which is illuminated by a sunbeam. 


Leaving the sun-animalcule, we take a little fresh yeast 
which we have obtained from our baker and examine it under 
the microscope. With a high power we find that it consists of a 


12 THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 


vast number of cells of globular elliptical form moving in fluid. 
These bodies are the yeast plant or Saccharomyces which 
produces the frothy fermentation of the yeast. They are 
unicellular plants, minute points of protoplasm surrounded with 
a very thin delicate cell wall, and by employing special methods 
of investigation a nucleus can be detected. The mode of repro- 
duction in the yeast plant is peculiar. A small bud-like pro- 
tuberance of protoplasm forms at the surface of the cell pushing 
out the cell wall before it. It enlarges, and at last a partition 
forms between it and the mother cell. Ultimately it separates, 
but before doing so may itself develop a bud, so that sometimes 
chains or groups of cells are formed. 


Placing the yeast aside we take from one of our collecting 
flasks a drop of water obtained from a pond after a thunder- 
shower and which attracted attention by its uniform green tinge. 
On examination under the microscope we are surprised to find 
that the green tinge is due to a multitude of ovoid cells filled 
with bright green colouring matter interspersed with occasional 
spots of red. Each of these ovoid bodies is a little plant which 
consists of but a single cell and which has received the alarming 
name of Protococecus pluvialis—a name, however, which ceases to 
be a bugbear when we perceive that protococcus is simply a 
compound of two Greek words meaning primary grain or 
granule, and that pluvialis is a Latin adjective pointing to the 
fact that you are likely to find the little plant in your tanks after 
a heavy shower. Continuing your examination you see that the 
ovoid cells have a thick colourless cell wall enclosing the 
protoplasm in which we observe the nucleus and the bright 
green colouring matter known as Chlorophyll, which we see in 
the leaves of plants. The little cells are quite motionless, but 
keep them under examination patiently and notice what happens. 
The protoplasm of the cell divides into two, and the process is 
soon afterwards repeated, so that there result from four to as 
many as sixteen daughter cells contained within the cell wall of the 
mother cell. The enclosed cells assume a pear-like form, the cell 
wall bursts and the daughter cells are set free. As soon as this 
happens we are surprised to see that the free cells begin to swim 
actively about, and by careful treatment of one of them we are 
able to discern that the movement is caused by two long delicate 
filaments or processes, which have developed at the pointed end. 


BY WILLIAM J. BYRAM. 13 


These filameats are technically called flagella. They act as 
propellers and their motion is so rapid that it is difficult to see 
them. After swimming about actively for a time the cells come 
to rest, draw in their flagella, develop a thick cell wall, and pass 
into the resting stage, to recommence another life-cycle of the 
same kind. I have called the protococcus a plant because it is 
filled with the green colouring matter of plants, chlorophyll, and 
because it obtains its nutriment as plants do by decomposing 
carbonic acid gas, appropriating the carbon, which is one of the 
elements of which that gas is composed, and giving off oxygen, 
the other constituent. Animals, on the other hand, cannot feed 
in this way, but derive their nourishment from already formed 
organic matter, which they submit to a process of digestion. 
Notwithstanding this distinction, we are now in the borderland 
between animal and plant, and we find that there is no line of 
demarcation between them. The protoplasm of the amceba, of 
the sun-animalcule, of the human leucocytes is the protoplasm of 
the yeast plant, of the protococcus, and of Tennyson’s ‘‘ flower in 
the crannied wall.” Itis all very well to compare a wallaby 
with a gum tree, and ask incredulously whether there is not a 
very decided line of demarcation between animal and plant. 
Look into your microscope again. Amongst the protococcus 
cells you see a spindle-shaped body as brilliantly green as them- 
selves. One end is blunt, or snout-like, and is furnished with a 
long translucent filament or flagellum, just lke the flagella of 
the motile stage of protococcus. It swims rapidly, and performs 
peculiar contracting, expanding, and twisting movements as if it 
were elastic. This strange body is a lowly animalcule, the 
Kuglena. It is a mere point of protoplasm—a single cell—and 
we notice in its protoplasm the nucleus and the same remarkable 
pulsating vacuole which interested us in the sun-animalcule. At 
the snout-like end is a bright red pigment spot, which the 
discoverer of the creature took for an eye, and from it chose the 
Greek name Euglena, or bright-eyed. It is not even a 
rudimentary eye, however, for though the Euglena is sensitive to 
light, the greatest sensitiveness is in the other end of the cell, 
away from the pigment spot. The Euglena has, however, really 
the rudiment of a mouth, though it consists of but a simple 
depression or groove into the soft interior protoplasm. Through 
this depression minute nutrient particles are carried into the 
interior. But the remarkable fact is, that while the Euglena 


14 THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 


feeds in this way—the strictly animal way—it also obtains 
nutriment like a plant. It is filled with chlorophyll, the green 
colouring matter of plants, and under the influence of sunlight it 
can decompose carbonic acid gas, taking to itself the carbon and 
giving off the oxygen. Like protococcus, too, it passes into the 
resting condition, in which it loses it flagellum, secretes a cell 
wall, and undergoes the same phases of subdivision within the 
envelope, rupture of the envelope, and escape of the daughter cells. 
We thus see that in the Euglena there is a blending of the 
essential plant and animal characteristics; it is the one or the 
other as we list. The same doubtful position is occupied by a 
remarkable group of organisms known as Myxomycetes, or slime- 
fungi, which are found on bark, stones, or decaying vegetable 
matter. They are extended expansions of protoplasm, so 
ramified and interlaced as to form a network. The illustration 
shows one of them. Strange fo say, these so-called fungi are 
constituted by the fusion of a number of organisms indistinguish- 
able from amcebae, as becomes evident if we keep them under 
observation for a time. The protoplasm of the network, or 
plasmodium, as it is called, breaks up after arranging itself into a 
number of spherical spores, each surrounded by a cell wall of 
cellulose—a starch-like substance of which the wall of the typical 
plant cells is composed. These spores burst their enclosing 
cysts and assume the form of small amcebae, which, after 
remaining free for a time, coalesce to form the expansion or 
plasmodium with which we started. As if the more conclusively 
to show that nature abhors a line of demarcation even more than 
a vacuum came the discovery of Professor Haeckel, in the Canary 
Islands, of a minute orange-red marine organism of the lowest 
type of animal life, which he called protomyxa. It bears a 
striking resemblance to the slime-fungi just referred to. Like 
them, it is a network of protoplasm, which interlace and exhibit 
a constantly flowing and changing movement. In this phase it 
feeds like an ameeba, by the ingestion of small creatures. But 
after a time the tree-like extensions are alldrawn in. Then the 
interior protoplasm divides into a number of bodies, first 
spherical, but afterwards pear-shaped, and furnished with 
processes. The sphere bursts, and these bodies being set free 
swim actively about by means of their flagella. Soon they 
become transformed into amcebe, which coalesce to form 
the extended network or plasmodium. Another lowly animal of 


BY WILLIAM J. BYRAM. 15 


a kindred nature, known as labyrinthula, forms a ramified 
expansion of protoplasm upon submerged objects, and another 
form, known as Vampyrella, attaches itself to microscopic plants 
and sucks out their protoplasm. You see it in the illustration 
attached to a stalked diatom. These strange organisms with 
their alternation of generations bring home to us the conviction 
that we are in the debatable land between the animal and 
vegetable kingdoms, and show us that the distinction between 
them diminishes until it is finally lost. Turning back to our 
microscope we observe in the field of view a number of fairy 
mats of a beautiful light green colour, with indented edges. In 
these we have an instance of a very large family of microscopic 
plants, the desmids, a word which means ribbon or chain-like, 
because they grow in ponds attached to water weeds in chain-like 
tufts. They are single cells—minute points of protoplasm— 
surrounded by an investing membrane, and they are remarkable 
for the beauty and variety of their forms—crosses, triangles, 
crescents, hour-glasses, spindles, circles, stars, cylinders, purses, 
hearts, ribbons, bands, necklaces, fairy mats. The photomicro- 
graph is of the latter form, known as Micrasterias, or little star. 
If you keep one of these little plants under patient observation 
you will see that the notch in the centre, or suture, as it is called, 
gradually widens, a hyaline protuberance is put forth on each 
side ; each protuberance becomes lobed, and gradually grows into 
anew half-cell. Two cells thus result from the one, and separate 
to lead an independent life. But here again we find that the 
process of subdivision cannot go on indefinitely, but has 
to be recovered by the reverse process of union. At times two of 
the little plants meet, and their contents blend together. The 
result is the formation of a body so different in colour and 
appearance from either of them that if you had not actually 
witnessed the process you would not connect it with the desmid. 
This body is circular, its colour is light red, and it has long 
pellucid arms, indented at the extremities. It is known 
technically as a zygospore, that is a spore resulting from the 
process of conjugation. These zygospores sink into the mud, 
and will bear being dried up in the worst drought. At the first 
shower of rain they burst, and the contents develop into the 
ordinary fairy mats. The formation of zygospores is well seen 
in another little plant, the spirogyra. You cannot fail to have 
noticed the green slime which floats in tangled masses on 


16 THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 


standing water. If you examine some of this slime under the 
microscope you will see that it consists of beautiful green 
filaments, made up of cells placed end to end. The cells 
reproduce by subdivision, but here again at times two filaments 
(as far as we can see, in all respects identical) approach each 
other. Canals are thrown across to opposite cells, and through 
these canals the cells on one side pour their contents into the cells 
on the other. The contents fuse together, and form a reddish 
brown oval spore in each of the latter cells. Then the membrane 
bursts and the spores are set free. These spores may be dried 
up and carried by the wind to vast distances. At the return of 
favourable conditions they acquire flagella, swim about actively 
for a time, and then gradually develop into the usual filamentous 
form. 

The next illustration shows another form of flagellate 
animalcule, which is so large as to be just visible to the naked 
eye. It is remarkable as being the cause of the phosphorescent 
light which you often notice in the sea; and it is therefore aptly 
named noctiluea, or the night-light. It is a peach-shaped body, 
and grooved something like a peach. From the groove proceeds 
the whip-like filament or flagellum. In the interior of the cell 
is seen the protoplasm, branching in all directions so as to form 
a reticulated mass. The light has a beautiful greenish tinge, 
and appears to originate from the marginal portion of the 
protoplasm, and to be due to electric action.. When the noctilucae 
are very numerous they give rise to streams or tracks of light 
after any object moving through the water, a phenomenon which 
suggested the fantastic imagery of Coleridge in the ‘“ Ancient 
Mariner ’’— 

Beyond the shadow of the ship 
I watched the water-snakes. 
They moved in tracks of shining white, 
And when they reared the elfish light 
Fell off in hoary flakes. 

The diagram now shown illustrates the beautiful slipper 
animalcule, or paramecium, as it is called scientifically, an 
animalcule common in ponds and standing water. As it darts 
into the field of view we notice that it is surrounded with minute 
quivering hair-like processes, known as cilia, which glisten like 
spun glass. These cilia are the same thing as flagella; they are 
prolongations of the protoplasm, but they are far more numerous 


and delicate. We observe, too, in the protoplasm a groove or 


BY WILLIAM J. BYRAM. 17/ 


primitive gullet, and two pulsating vacuoles, one at each end. 
These vacuoles, shown separately in the diagram, are more 
complicated than in the amceba or sun-animalcule, for as they 
pulsate we notice from six to ten delicate spindle-shaped spaces 
forming star-like vacuoles. The paramcecium reproduces by 
subdivision, and in it also, as the researches of Hertwig and 
others have shown, we have the same phenomenon of the union 
of two individuals as a momentum to renewed powers of feeding 
and subdividing. Hertwig says that the union brings about a 
complete reorganisation of the nuclear apparatus and at the same 
time of the infusorian. The individuals which have thus become 
rejuvenated have regained the capacity of multiplying enormously 
by means of division, until again the necessity for a new 
conjugation arises. During a period of six and a-half days a 
single individual, when provided with sufficient nourishment, 
divides thirteen times, that is to say, produces about 8,000 
descendants. 

If we have water weeds under examination, we often 
see pendent from them a number of _ beautiful little 
crystal bells on flexile stalks, which expand to a straight line and 
suddenly contract in corkscrew fashion as the bell darts 
downwards. These are the vorticellae, or bell flower animalcules, 
another example of the ciliated infusoria. We notice that each 
bell is crowned with a circlet of cilia in rapid vibration, and as 
they vibrate little whirlpools or vortices are produced in the 
surrounding water. Like all the other lowly forms that we have 
reviewed, the vorticella reproduces by subdivision, and when a 
colony gets too large some of the members of it detach them- 
selves from their stalks and swim away to find fresh pastures 
elsewhere. This is a mere method of dispersion, but at times, if 
we watch the bells closely, we observe a cluster of buds at the 
base of certain of them, which looks something like a minute 
crystal bunch of grapes. These buds develop cilia, detach 
themselves, and after swimming about for a time approach the 
bells and gradually fuse into them. This is another phase of 
conjugation, and after it the vorticella acquires quickened powers 
of feeding and subdividing. As instances of other infusors we 
may notice the opalina and gregarina, which are curious as 
showing how species of infusoria can become parasitic. The 
opalina is found in the large intestine of the common frog, where 
it is nourished by the partially digested food of its host. The 

B 


18 THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 


gregarina is found chiefly in the intestinal canal of the earth- 
worm. The ordinary adult form is shown in the diagram a. 
Instead of cilia it has at the distal end a small circlet of hooklets. 
Diagrams B and c show two individuals uniting. They fuse and 
pass into the encysted condition as at p; then the protoplasm 
breaks up into an immense number of spores, as at Fr, the 
investment bursts, and each spore develops into a new gregarina. 
Those earth-worms have my profound sympathy. But while 
you have been considering these infusors, and perhaps feeling 
some disgust at the parasitic forms, you may not have realised 
that here again you are in contact with creatures which have an 
intimate connection with yourself. The human body furnishes 
examples of a multitude of infusors, which are part and parcel of 
us, just as the blood globules and leucocytes are part and parcel 
of us. The whole of the respiratory tract, the lower parts of the 
nasal passages, the central canal of the spinal cord, and other 
parts of the body are lined with cells, which are furnished with 
cilia, and if detached will swim about by means of their cilia 
and maintain for a time an independent life, like true infusors. 
These ciliated epithelial cells are shown in the photomicrograph 
now on the screen. 

In all the instances which we have considered we have had 
cells either consisting of naked protoplasm or surrounded by a 
cell wall of cellulose, the starch-like substance already mentioned ; 
but in a very large family of microscopic plants, or animals, as 
some still insist, the diatomaceae, the protoplasm is enclosed in a 
minute silicious test or shell. These casings consist of double 
valves of pure silex or flint, and are objects of exquisite beauty, 
not only from the variety of their forms, but from the mathe- 
matical accuracy of their shapes and the marvellously minute 
markings uponthem. In the living state they are filled with a 
yellow or yellowish green colouring matter, and they are endowed 
with the power of spontaneous movement, the cause of which is 
obscure, for they are not furnished with flagella or cilia or any 
other apparent means of locomotion. The variety and beauty of 
their forms is shown in the photomicrograph, which is a portion 
of a strewn slide of 150. [Dk. ground.] That is a smaller 
portion of the same slide which I have taken with dark ground. 
[Dk. ground triceratium.] That is a triceratium, or triangular 
diatom, alsoona darkground. [Group.] This photomicrograph 
is a grouped slide, from which you will see the mathematical 


BY WILLIAM J. BYRAM. 19 


precision of the shapes. [Arachnoidiscus.] That is the beautiful 
arachnoidiscus, or spider-web disc, the reason for the name being 
obvious. [Pleurosigma.] That photomicrograph is the beautiful 
pleurosigma under a high power. And I should like to direct 
your attention to the small portion at the side turned back so as 
to show the two sets of markings. Itisa pretty feat of mounting 
that, when we consider that the whole object is a minute point 
invisible to the naked eye. The diatomaceae occur in every part 
of the world in countless myriads, and how numerous these 
minute organisms have been in the geological past you will 
realise when you learn that they occur fossil to such an extent 
that whole strata consist of little else, and whole mountains are 
composed of them. The slide now projected shows some of this 
diatomaceous earth. 


The enclosure of the protoplasm in a test or shell occurs in 
a variety of other forms. In the animalcule called Gromia, the 
shell or carapace is of chitin, a peculiar horny nitrogenous 
substance, of which the wing cases of certain insects are also 
composed. In the shell there is only a single small orifice at one 
end, and through this the protoplasm streams forth abundantly, 
completely investing the shell externally, and branching and 
re-branching and interlacing so as to form a delicately 
complicated network. The carapace is the home-centre, and in 
states of quiescence the whole of the protoplasm is withdrawn 
into it. The creature is like an amceba that has acquired a shell. 


Another example of the enclosure of the protoplasm in a test 
or shell is seen in the beautiful little creature, Clathrulina 
elegans. That name sounds formidable, but the word Clath- 
rulina simply means little trellis or grating, and you will at once 
see that the name has been given to it on account of the 
perforations in its shell. The shellis placed upon a stalk, which, 
like the shell itself, is composed of silex or flint. The creature 
is a speck of protoplasm, and through the apertures of the shell 
it puts forth rays like the sun-animalcule. This comparison with 
the sun-animalcule is no fancied resemblance, as the method of 
reproduction shows. At times numerous small oval masses of 
protoplasm are formed within the shell. They escape, acquire 
flagella and swim about actively. Then they assume the form 
of free sun-animalculae, and ultimately gradually acquire the 
silicious shell and stalk. From these forms the transition is 


20 THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 


obvious to the two extensive and beautiful marine groups of the 
radiolaria and foraminifera. The radiolaria are so called from 
the raylike arrangement of their processes or pseudopodia. Like 
the last form, they are sun-animalcules, enclosed in silicious tests 
or shells. These shells are of remarkable beauty and variety, as 
you will see from the photomicrograph of some of them, taken 
with dark ground illumination. In the next two illustrations the 
radiolaria are represented in their living state, with the rays 
protruding from the numerous orifices. No less striking from 
the variety and graceful sculpture of their forms are the 
foraminifera. In their case, however, the tests or shells are not 
composed of flint, but of carbonate of lime. The animal itself 
is simply a point of protoplasm resembling the ameceba, and, like 
it, putting out processes or pseudopodia. These are often so 
numerous that they interlace and form a protoplasmic network, 
as you will observe from the diagram of a very graceful form, the 
rotalia, in which the shell is many-chambered, and is covered 
with minute pores, through which the processes are put forth. 
Another elegant form is the miliolina, in which the shell is a 
spiral, whose convolutions are folded over each other. In 
another form, called by the fantastic Greek name Haliphysema, 
or bubble of the sea, there is an approximation to the sponges; 
for the protoplasm is enclosed in a cell built up of a mass of 
spicules or needle-like rods, which are characteristic of the 
skeleton of sponges, but also occur upon the integument of the 
echinodermata, sea eggs, sea slugs, &c. In one of the latter, the 
synapta, these calcareous spicules assume the form of beautifully 
symetrical anchors and plates. They are shown in the photo- 
micrograph arranged in a group. So vast has been the number 
of the foraminifera in the geological past that whole strata are 
composed of their fossil tests. The chalk beds are almost entirely 
made up of them, and one species, the nummulites, occurred in 
such vast quantities that they form a band of limestone stretching 
from the Atlantic shores of Europe and Africa through Western 
Asia to Northern India and China. The photomicrograph 
represents a section of chalk rock, with partly decomposed tests, 
and the diagram illustrates the various forms of foraminifera 
from the chalk. The next diagram shows several forms of 
foraminifera, but I wish particularly to direct your attention to 
the section of nummulitic limestone with the organisms in situ. 
This limestone is of great interest to us as being the material of 


BY WILLIAM J. BYRAM. 21 


which the pyramids are built. And what a wonderful lesson of 
life energy those pyramids afford. Think of the countless myriads 
of exquisite living forms whose fossil tests made up the limestone ; 
think of the untold ages it took to consolidate those shell masses 
into rock ; think of the strange semi-civilisation of the Egyptians 
and of the appalling expenditure of human life and energy by 
which the Pharoahs raised those vast edifices—monuments not of 
the superior wisdom of the Egyptians, as the ignorant even yet 
believe, but of an iron despotism, which could only be the 
concomitant of semi-barbarism. Nummulities in untold myriads, 
limestone rock, armies upon armies of human beings under the 
lash of the task-masters—the pyramids ! 


It is most interesting, too, to know that processes similar to 
those which formed the limestone of the pyramids and the chalk 
strata are still proceeding. This is evident from the microscopic 
examination of the silt which collects in bays and estuaries, and 
from the so-called ooze which is brought up by soundings from 
great ocean depths. Let us hope that these minute organisms 
are not building up a new limestone for the erection of new 
pyramids by a Pharoah of the future. When I see how strong 
are the forces of reaction and obscurantism I often fear it. 


From the lowly forms of life, which consist but of single 
cells, we pass by slow gradations to those higher organisms, 
which are aggregates of cells, and whose structure becomes more 
and more complex, more and more differentiated; and long 
before we come to man, the highest, we have amply realised the 
truth of Darwin’s remark that each living being must be 
considered as a microcosm, a small universe which is formed 
from a collection of organisms, which reproduce themselves, 
which are extremely small, and which are as numerous as the 
stars in heaven. So great is this complexity in ourselves that 
language fails to express it. Consider the number of globules in 
the blood, the vast multitude of nerve cells in the skin, which 
you see in the diagram, or the intricate differentiation in the 
human eye. Each of us is an immense army of living beings— 
the body cells, in their various differentiations, the sum of whose 
activities makes up our consciousness, for they are governed by 
and co-operate with a wonderful group of cells in the brain, the 
thought-cells. The realisation that we ourselves are cell 
aggregates leads us to observe with absorbing interest the first 


22, THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 


advances which the biologica) unit makes along the path which 
leads to such bewildering complexity and to such a marvellous 
phenomenon as conscious intelligence. With a few illustrations 
in this direction I must occupy the remainder of my paper. We 
saw in spirogyra that the cells adhered end to end so as to form 
a filament; but each cell is the counterpart of every other cell, 
and if separated is perfectly able to lead an independent life. 
There is no assumption by different cells of different functions— 
no division of labour. A step higher we have colonies of cells. 
You can often obtain a beautiful example of such a cell colony in 
the ponds round Brisbane. If you obtain a bottle of water from 
any of these ‘you will not unlikely observe, on holding it up to 
the light, a number of minute green globes, just visible to the 
naked eye, rolling slowly and majestically onward, and at the 
same time rotating on their axes. This is that favourite of 
microscopists, the volvox globator. When one of these tiny 
globules is examined with a low power it looks like a light green 
pellucid net dotted regularly with minute green spots, and 
generally having within it from two to eight smaller spheres. 
When each of the spots is examined more carefully, and with a 
higher power, it is found to be a cell—a speck of protoplasm, 
furnished with two long processes or flagella, just like the active 
form of protococcus, of which you saw a diagram earlier this 
evening. Although the appearance of the volvox is that of a net, 
there are no interstices or gaps in the surface of the sphere, for 
each cell is connected with the cells around it by means of its 
hyaline envelope. The green bodies in the centre of the net are 
young volvoces, which have been formed from enlargements of 
the ordinary cells, and when sufficiently developed have detached 
themselves internally, remaining in the parent sphere until it 
finally bursts and they swim forth. Before this happens you 
may often see them revolving by the action of their own flagella 
in the interior of the mother sphere, and the mother sphere at 
the same time rotating itself. It is a most beautiful sight, and 
one of which the crushed and broken forms of the photomicro- 
graph on the screen can give you no idea. The beginnings of 
differentiation are further seen in the beautiful little fresh water 
plant called by the quaint name of Batrachospermum, or frog 
spawn, to which its whorls of cells were supposed to bear a 
resemblance. The whorls are made up of beaded filaments, and 
the main axis consists of elongated cells, but certain of the beaded 


BY WILLIAM J. BYRAM. 23 


filaments, instead of radiating from the main axis, grow down- 
wards upon it and form an envelope, closely investing it. Here 
we have a step towards differentiation, or division of labour, for 
these investing cells are no longer independent, but constitute a 
membrane foreshadowing the cuticle or cortex of the higher 
plants. Another illustration is afforded by the higher forms of 
sea weeds, where we meet with a faint hint of the distinction 
between leaf stem and root. The photomicrograph shows the 
cells of the frond of the beautiful Polysiphonia. These are 
vegetable types, but differentiation in the animal follows a similar 
course. From single cells like the sun-animalcule we pass to 
groups like the vorticella, and thence to colonies of animals. But 
still each cell lives for itself alone ; there is no division of labour. 
Go a step forward, however. There is a little creature known as 
the hydra, often found in ponds amongst duckweed and 
utricularia, which shows in a most decided manner the early 
advance in differentiation. I have often met with it in the ponds 
in Bowen Park. It consists of a cylindrical body, ending in a 
small orifice, and crowned with from six to eight tentacles, with 
which it captures minute creatures for itsfood. As we watch the 
hydra we observe that it assumes so many different shapes that 
if you did not see it passing from one to the other you would not 
connect them with the same animal. Sometimes it is an almost: 
spherical mass, and the tentacles are reduced to small rounded 
excrescences ; sometimes it is fully expanded and the tentacles 
are thin, delicate processes. Between these extremes every 
gradation occurs. The photomicrograph on the screen shows it 
about half expanded. The diagram presents it in its fully 
expanded condition. In structure the body of the hydra consists 
of but two layers of cells, an outer and an inner, but the inner 
cells have taken upon themselves the function of nutrition, and 
the outer cells are both irritable and contractile, forming a kind 
of rudimentary nervous and muscular system. In certain of the 
outer cells there is a strange and deadly weapon. If we tear a 
hydra to pieces with very fine needles and examine the pieceg 
carefully with sufficient magnification, we see that certain of the 
outer cells possess peculiarities. They exhibit a clear elliptical 
cavity. Coiled up within this cavity, like a spring, is a delicate 
thread, furnished at the basal end with three projecting barbs. 
The cavity is filled with a poisonous fluid, though what its 
chemical nature may be I have never been able to determine. 


24 THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE. 


Certain it is that this weapon is of great use to the hydra, as you 
will realise if you watch one of them feeding. A water flea or 
other small creature comes in contact with one of these machine 
guns. The spring uncoils with such force that the cavity and 
the thread are turned inside out. Then you see that the water 
flea, before so alert and lively, is completely paralysed, and if the 
hydra is feeling in need of a meal the captured prey is brought 
within reach of the tentacles and gradually transferred to the 
digestive cavity. The interior layer of cells comprises cells of 
two different varieties. Like the outer cells they are nucleated, 
but, unlike them, some of them are seen to possess one or more 
filaments or flagella, and others are constantly varying their free 
ends by the protrusion and drawing in of pseudopodia or 
processes ; they are, as it were, a series of amcebae fixed in their 
places. The inner cells are a rank of flagellate monads and of 
amcebae marshalled into line and working for a common end— 
the nutrition of the cell aggregate. 


Ordinarily the hydra reproduces by budding; a small 
excresence makes its appearance on the exterior. It is formed by 
a pushing out of the two layers of cells. It becomes lobed at the 
outer end, and gradually develops into a young hydra. This 
capacity for reproducing by budding brings about a curious result 
in the hydra. You remember in the Greek mythology which 
you studied at school reading the myth of the hydra or many- 
headed serpent which Hercules destroyed. It was a nasty 
customer to deal with, because when Hercules cut off any one of 
its heads two new ones grew in their place. Our hydra realises 
something akin to that, for you may make mincemeat of it, and 
each piece will develop into a perfect hydra. I have referred to 
the volvox and hydra only so far as to show the advance in 
differentiation, or division of labour. A lecture of many hours 
duration might be devoted to the life histories of either of them. 
The hydra is of the greatest interest to us, for it represents the 
permanent form of what is known in embryology as the gastrula 
stage in development—a stage through which the majority of the 
higher organisms pass early in their prenatal history, a stage in 
which they consist of a purse-like form composed of but two 
layers of cells, the inner performing nutritive functions, and the 
outer the functions of sensation and protection, just as in the 
hydra. From the hydra we proceed to the hydroid polypes, or 


BY WILLIAM J. BYRAM. 25. 


zoophytes. Some representatives of them are to be found on all 
coasts in rock pools left by the tide or attached to sea weed, and 
to the unaided eye resemble small pieces of cotton thread. I 
have photographed a portion of one of them. They are like 
colonies of hydrae, for the bells, or hydranths, as they are called, 
are each of them a zooid or living being, though they are attached 
to a common stalk. 


I cannot pursue this subject further, it is too extensive, and 
I must be content with very few concluding remarks. As Ihave 
said, we cannot answer the question, ‘‘ What is life?” but if we 
are even to approximate to a solution of the problem we must 
divest our minds of the idea that it is something apart from other 
phenomena, something unique and supernatural. It is amystery 
in the same sense that electricity is a mystery, or that gravitation 
is a mystery; its causes are so recondite that they elude our 
limited powers of comprehension. We must hold, provisionally, 
that it is the attribute of protoplasm, the resultant of the 
interaction—the intricate chemical change and interchange of 
the porteids of which that most instable complex consists. We 
have no knowledge of life apart from protoplasm ; such a thing 
is inconceivable. Yet we must frankly admit that we do not 
know what life is or what its origin has been. As far as the 
precise experiments of the late Professors Tyndall and Huxley, 
and of the eminent biologist, Dr. Dallinger, extend, spontaneous 
generation or abiogenesis has been negatived. As far as we can 
see under existing conditions all life comes from previous life. 
But it must be remembered that precise as they were, these 
experiments are essentially imperfect. They oaly prove that at 
the present time, in a small confined space, and under existing 
conditions, all life is the derivative of existing life. When we 
take all the analogies into consideration, there is a strong 
probability that there is no line of demarcation between the 
living and the inorganic ; but that, if not now, at anyrate under 
different conditions in the geological past, protoplasm, with its 
attribute life, originated from the non-living. This is, indeed, 
an irresistible corollary from the law of evolution, otherwise we 
must ascribe the first appearance of life to a special fiat of the 
Creative Power, a theory which is not only unthinkable, but 
which has been beaten all along the line. More and more, too, 
the mechanical theory of life is winning its way, despite old 


26 THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE, 


school treatises like Dr. Lionel Beale’s book on Protoplasm. We 
find life constantly standing in relation to the physical forces. 
It does work, and in doing it uses up the protoplasmic material, 
which has to be renewed by the assimilation of other protoplasm, 
as in animals, or the metabolism of inorganic matter, as in 
plants. It is manifested in conjunction with other forms of 
energy, heat, light, and electricity, and seems to stand in the 
same category as they. Indeed, as the suggestive experiments of 
a German biologist, Professor Biitschli, have shown, the work 
which the protoplasm does in the movements of the amceba may 
be imitated mechanically. He prepared frothy mixtures of oil 
with certain chemical substances, chiefly olive oil and finely 
powdered potassic carbonate, which makes a soapy foam. Tiny 
drops of this emulsion introduced into water, and viewed under 
the microscope, are found to be filled with vacuoles, and to 
exhibit, for as long a period as six days after their preparation, 
the streaming, diffluent movements of the amceba, and, like the 
amoeba, put out and draw in processes, or pseudopodia, and creep 
across the glass. But remembering the vast complexity of 
protoplasm, and the comparative simplicity of the oil-foam, we 
must suspend our judgment as to whether the movements of the 
amceba are purely mechanical. The striking correspondence 
shown by Professor Biitschli may be more apparent than real. 
Still, the whole tendency of scientific thought favours the 
mechanical theory of life, and if anyone should collate these 
considerations with the further one that the soul of man is but a 
name we have given to the sum total of his consciousness, and 
should feel pain or alarm in consequence, we can only remind 
him for his comfort that what we know is but an insignificant 
fraction of the vast unknown and unknowable. In that dark 
region there is room for boundless possibilities, boundless hope. 


[The diagrams and photomicrographs with which this 
lecture was illustrated will be reproduced in a future Volume of 
the Proceedings. | 


THE NATURE ANI) ORIGIN OF LIVING MATTER 
(PROTOPLASM). 


By A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D. 
[Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 13th May, 1899.]| 


Mr. Byram’s exceedingly interesting paper on the ‘‘ Beginnings 
of Life’’ touched at its close on topics which belong, as he 
remarked, rather to the realm of philosophy than of science, 
strictly so called. He described to us the simplest known living 
beings, illustrated in a very able way their marvellous variety of 
form and activity, and at the same time pointed out their 
apparent simplicity of structure; how that they all were but 
modifications of a single cell, that is, a naked mass of jelly-like 
protoplasm, containing a central portion of greater density 
known as the nucleus. We were shown how cells of the closest 
similarity of form and activity to these existed in the higher 
animals and plants, how the tissues of all animals and plants 
were composed of collections of such cells, modified more or less 
from their primitive simplicity to perform special functions, yet 
never departing very far from it ; and how, in fact, every animal 
and plant, every one of us, originated from a cell of very simple 
form, the ovum, closely comparable to an ameeba, or other 
unicellular organism. So far our lecturer kept to the firm ground 
of science. All that he told us is easily demonstrable, and very 
much of it can be actually seen by anyone who will devote a little 
pains to the investigation. But anyone so doing, if of a 
thoughtful disposition, can hardly fail to ask himself certain 
questions, which, as Mr. Byram remarked, are probably to be 
regarded as insoluble. What is the nature of this glairy, 
transparent, mobile substance we call protoplasm, which forms 
the body of this shifting speck of life ? How does it differ from 
other substances know to us as lifeless and inorganic, and is this 


28 THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF LIVING MATTER. 


difference merely one of degree, or is there a deep and unfathom- 


able gulf between them? Finally, how did living matter first 
arise and come to exist ? 


You will not, I hope, suspect me of thinking I have any new 
solution to offer of these well-discussed problems. Scientifically 
they are insoluble. They take us into regions where observation 
and experiment, the methods of science, are unavailing, and 
where the human mind is ever in danger of mistaking its self- 
evolved imaginations as equivalent to demonstrated truths, or 
worse still, of mistaking merely verbal solutions for real. *For 
the latter error there is one sufficient remedy, and that is to 
substitute mentally the meaning of the word, or, in logical terms, 
the definition, for the word itself, and unless one is continually 


prepared to do this the discussion of any philosophical problem 
becomes futile. 


When, for instance, we are told that all matter is living, 
that there is no such thing as dead inorganic matter, we are, I 
submit, in danger of deriving comfort from a mere verbal 
assertion. or if we apply the term living to all matter, what 
meaning do we attach to it? That there are great and real 
differences between living and non-living matter is a fact of 
science, which we cannot explain by denying it to be. If, how- 
ever, the assertion be explained to mean, in more accurate 
language, that the protentiality of life exists in all matter, that 
the properties of living matter exist in an attenuated degree, or 
in a dormant condition, in simpler chemical combinations, we 
have an admissible hypothesis, which deserves discussion. But 
the facts must be recognised in the first place. 


Let us for a moment contemplate the amceba, and consider 
the properties of its living substance. I cannot do better than 
quote one of the earliest observers, who sixty years ago described 
this substance, not by the term protoplasm, by which we know 
it, but by the term sarcode. ‘‘I propose,’’ said Dujardin, “ to 
name sarcode that which other observers have termed a living 
jelly, a substance glutinous, diaphanous, homogeneous, refracting 
light a little more than water, but much less than oil, extensible 
and ropy like mucus, elastic and contractile, susceptible of 
spontaneously forming within itself spherical cavities or vacuoles 
which become occupied by the surrounding liquid. The most 
simple animals, such as amcebae and monads, are entirely 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D. 29 


composed, at least to all appearances, of this living jelly. Sarcode 
is without visible organs, and has no appearance of cellularity ; 
but it is nevertheless organised, for it emits various prolongations 
along which granules pass, and which are alternately extended 
and retracted; in one word, it possesses life.’’ In this old 
description, to which the most recent science has but little to 
add, you will note the stress laid upon the movements of 
protoplasm as indicative of life. And, indeed, these movements are 
sufficiently remarkable. It is true that of recent years Butschli has 
shown that if oil be rubbed up with certain alkaline salts in a moist 
condition, and a minute fragment of the paste be examined in 
water, the latter diffuses into the paste and converts it into a 
froth, in which streaming movements occur and changes of 
external form not unlike those shown by living protoplasm. 
These movements are due to diffusion currents set up by the 
chemical changes taking place between the water and the soapy 
oil. How far they can be regarded as explaining the movements 
of protoplasm is, I think, very doubtful. Similarity may be 
apparent as well as real, and it is very doubtful whether 
protoplasm really consists of a vacuolated mass as Biitschli 
contends, and further, even more doubtful whether these simple 
diffusion currents, which cease after a time, really explain in any 
way true amceboid movements. 

But there are other and more subtle differences between 
living and non-living matter. A proper mental grasp of these 
is essential to the understanding of our problem. They consist 
in chemical changes which are characteristic. All living matter 
has this in common, that it continually absorbs oxygen and gives 
off carbonic acid. If you will consider this for a moment, you 
will see that it involves the recognition of the fact that living 
protoplasm is always in a state of wasting or decomposition. Its 
constituent molecules, which consist partly of carbon, are con- 
tinually becoming oxidised and breaking up into much simpler 
non-living chemical compounds. As a necessary condition to 
its existence, it possesses the opposite power of taking up non- 
living matter and transforming it into protoplasm. Its chemical 
equilibrium can only be maintained by a continual succession of 
chemical changes, opposite in character, for its substance is in a 
continual state of flux. On the one hand is an in-stream of 
molecules containing carbon, nitrogen, &c.; on the other, an 
outflow of the same elements in other, usually much simpler, 


30 THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF LIVING MATTER. 


combinations. By these chemical changes a continuous formation 
of energy takes place, which energy is given off as heat, or 
sometimes also partly as mechanical motion, or in other ways. 
Living matter is continually in a state of unstable chemical 
equilibrium. 

By a preponderance of assimilation over waste the living 
cell grows in size. A consideration of the statements just 
enunciated will convince you how fundamentally different such 
growth is from that, for example, of a crystal. The latter growth 
is wonderful to contemplate, but it is a growth by accretion ; 
each increment once formed is stable. The growth of the cell 
usually ends in division, which, in the case of the amceba, leads 
to the formation of two individuals each resembling the parent 
cell. But in the higher animals, the process of cell division 
leads to more complex developments. A brief glance at these is 
necessary for our purpose. 

The human ovum, not very different in structure from an 
amceba in the encysted stage, consists of a nucleated cell about 
fifteen of a millimetere in diameter, forming a speck just visible 
to the naked eye. The first stages of development consist, as in 
much humbler forms of life, in the division of this cell into two, 
four, sixteen, and more cells, forming a cluster, somewhat 
resembling the form of a mulberry. As the cells multiply fluid 
accumulates between them, and they form a minute vesicle, 
round which the cells are grouped at first in two, then in three 
layers. From these three layers of cells are developed by 
successive steps all the marvellous complexity of the adult human 
frame. The process by which this change occurs has to a great 
extent been observed and mapped out. It is a wonderful history, 
and the process by which each cell assumes its right place, and 
each group of cells differentiates itself into the right tissue in 
exactly the right situation, is entirely baffling to the imagination. 
Let me very briefly glance at the developmental history of one 
portion of the human frame. It is at first surprising to learn 
that the whole nervous system is developed from ancestral cells, 
which formed part of the external surface, or skin, of the 
embryo. As the development of the individual is but a 
recapitulation, with some modifications, of the development of 
the race, this fact seems to take us back into a very remote past, 
when the cells specially devoted to sense-perception, which would 
naturally be situated near the surface, were not yet differen- 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D. 31 


tiated into peripheral sense organs and central cells, receiving 
nervous impressions from these sense organs. However this 
may be, you will observe in a very early stage of the embryo of 
a hen’s egg, or of any other vertebrate, the appearance of a 
superficial groove, bounded by two ridges of thickened cells. 
These ridges increase in height, meet above, and coalesce, 
forming a tube lined by cells which originated from those 
covering the surface of the embryo, but have become distinct 
from them. The forepart of this primitive nervous tube under- 
goes very complicated changes, into which I will not enter, to 
form the brain. The hinder portion retains to the end very 
much of its primitive form, and constitutes the spinal cord of 
the adult. The first step towards the connection of the 
embryonic spinal cord with the other organs and tissues is a 
budding out of groups of cells along its dorsal surface on each 
side. The cell-buds become detached as little cell-islands, which 
develop into the spinal ganglia. In the next place the cells of 
these embryonic ganglia grow out into processes at each end, the 
two processes of each cell travelling in opposite directions. The 
centrally growing processes return to the spinal cord, and so 
resume connection with the central nervous system. The 
remaining processes have a peripheral direction, and form the 
sensory nerve fibres. They are joined by outgrowths from the 
anterior cells of the spinal cord, which grow out to form the 
motor nerve fibres. At each vertebral segment a nerve is formed 
by the union of one of the motor and sensory roots. I wish you 
to try and picture to yourselves the peripheral growth of these 
nerve fibres, how they insinuate themselves among the other 
tissues, as the roots of a plant insinuate themselves between the 
particles of the earth on which it grows. But the process is not 
an aimless one; each nerve cord, each branch, each filament takes 
its determined course, and no part of the body is free from their 
invasion. The sensory filaments form a network all over the 
body, but of especial fineness on its surface. The motor 
filaments seek out the developing muscles, and each one attaches 
itself to its appropriate muscular fibre. If you try to realise this 
you will gain a faint conception of the method by which one 
strand is woven in the wonderful fabric of flesh common to all 
of us. 

The purpose of this brief sketch has been to bring home to 
your minds the real and great difference between the phenomena 


$2, THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF LIVING MATTER. 


exhibited by living matter, that is to say, protoplasm, and other 
varieties of matter. As to this difference there is no dispute, 
and the more one grasps it mentally the less inclined one is to 
minimise it in any way. But when we come to the explanation 
of this difference, we find two possible alternatives. We may 
regard protoplasm as ordinary matter acted upon by ordinary 
chemical and physical forces, but of exceedingly complex 
constitution. Or we may regard it as ordinary matter plus an 
immaterial something to which is commonly applied the terms 
“life,” ‘‘ vitality,” ‘‘ vital principle.” On the former alternative 
the differences between protoplasm and ordinary matter are 
differences of great extent, itis true, but only of degree. On the 
latter hypothesis there is a gap between the two which no 
thought nor reasoning can bridge over. 

I have lately been reading a quaint old book written some 
two hundreds years back by one of our old English naturalists, 
John Ray. It so happens that in this work two opposing views 
as to the nature of living matter are both stated. In treating of 
this very development of the animal body, Ray remarks—‘ It 
seems impossible that Matter, divided into as many minute and 
subtle Parts as you will, or can imagine, and those moved 
according to what Catholick Laws soever can be devised, should 
without the Presidency and Direction of some intelligent Agent, 
by the meer Agitation of a gentle Heat, run itself into such a 
curious Machine as the the Body of Man is.” The difficulty, 
which must have occurred to everyone who has considered the 
problem, could not be stated with more definiteness. When Ray 
is treating of another subject, the contractions of the heart, he 
states his views again. The cardiac contractions were, he 
supposed, due to an influx of spirits (by which he did not mean 
anything immaterial, the word meaning simply gases or 
vapours) into the heart during systole. ‘‘ What,’ he asks, 
“directs and moderates the Motions of the Spirits? They 
being but stupid and senseless Matter, cannot of themselves 
continue any regular and constant Motion without the Guidance 
and Regulation of some intelligent Being. You will say, What 
Agent is it which you would have to effect this? The sensitive 
Soul it cannot be, because that is indivisible, but the Heart when 
separated wholly from the Body in some Animals continues still 
to pulse for a considerable time ; nay, when it hath quite ceased 
it may be brought to beat again by the application of warm 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D. 33 


Spittle, or by pricking it gently with a Pin or Needle. LIanswer, 
it may be in these Instances, the scattering Spirits remaining in 
the Heart, may for a time, being agitated by Heat, cause these 
faint pulsations, tho’ I should rather attribute them to a plastick 
Nature or Vital Principle.” This ‘plastick Nature” was a great 
comfort to John Ray, by its means he releases himself from every 
difficulty. It answers, I apprehend, exactly to the term 
** vitality ”’ or ‘‘ vital force,’”’ which, till quite recent years, could 
always be invoked to cut the knots of physiological puzzles. But 
on the very next page to the quotation given is an extract from 
a contemporary work by Mr. Boyle (whether the same as the 
physicist who enunciated Boyle’s law of the volume of gases I 
have not ascertained), in which a very different order of ideas is 
introduced. ‘I think it probable,” writes Boyle, ‘“ that the 
great and wise Author of Things did, when he first formed the 
Universe and undistinguished Matter into the World, put its 
Parts into various Motions, whereby they were necessarily 
divided into numberless Portions of differing Bulks, Figures and 
. Situations in Respect of each other; and that by his infinite 
Wisdom and Power he did so guide and overule the Motions of 
these Parts at the Beginning of Things, as that (whether in a 
shorter or longer Time Reason cannot determine) they were 
finally disposed into that beautiful and orderly Frame that we 
call the World; among whose Parts some were so curiously 
contrived as to be fit to become the Seeds or seminal Principles 
of Plants and Animals. And I further conceive that he settled 
such Laws or Rules of local Motion among the Parts of the 
Universal Matter, that by his ordinary and preserving Concourse 
the several Parts of the Universe thus once completed, should be 
able to maintain the great Construction or System and Economy 
of the Mundane Bodies and propagate the Species of living 
Creatures.”” Ray’s reply to this hypothesis is so curious that I 
must quote it :—‘‘ This Hypothesis, I say, I cannot fully acquisce 
in, because an intelligent Being seems to me requisite to execute 
the Laws of Motion ; for first Motion being a fluent Thing, and 
one Part of its Duration being absolutely independent upon 
another, it doth not follow that because anything moves this 
Moment it must necessarily continue to do so for the next, unless 
it were actually possessed of its future Motion, which is a 
contradiction ; but it stands in as much Need of an Efficient to 


preserve and continue its Motion as it did at first to produce it. 
¢ 


34 THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF LIVING MATTER. 


Secondly, let Matter be divided into the subtilest Parts imagin- 
able, and these be moved as swiftly as you will, it is buta 
senseless and stupid being still, and makes no nearer Approach 
to Sense, Perception, or vital Energy than it had before. 

And as for any external Laws or establish’d Rules of Motion, the 
stupid Matter is not capable of observing or taking any Notice of 
them, but it would be as sullen as the Mountain was that 
Mahomet commanded to come down to him; neither can those 
Laws execute themselves. Therefore there must, besides Matter 
and Law, be some Efficient, and that either a Quality or Power 
inherent in the Matter itself, which is hard to conceive, or some 
external intelligent Agent, either God himself immediately or 
some Plastic Nature.” 


It is my opinion that, judged even by the standard of his 
own day, Ray was a better naturalist than philosopher. My 
object in reading these extracts isto point out some errors that 
may not yet be entirely dead. Firstly, we have the highly 
figurative and wholly false conception of the “laws” of nature 
as something which poor, stupid matter has to understand and 
obey. Secondly, we have assertions regarding motion which 
are purely verbal, and embody no real conception of what 
actually occcurs. Here, of course, science has advanced greatly 
since Ray’s time, and we know motion to be both universal and 
indestructible, and to exist in forms which were then unsuspected. 
Thirdly, I would ask is there not something purely subjective 
also in Ray’s ideas of matter? Have we any right to speak of 
«stupid and senseless matter’’? Are not these question-begging 
epithets ? . 


Whatever view we may take of the nature of protoplasm, 
there is no doubt it is composed of the same elements as the rest 
of the universe. As long as life continues there is a continual 
procession of atoms of carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen and 
other elements, variously combined, into the living substance, 
and an equally unbroken procession of carbon, nitrogen, 
hydrogen, and oxygen out of the living substance. It is not 
only after death that the animal body is resolved into inorganic 
combinations of these elements. We may compare a living 
organism to the little columns of dust which are sometimes seen 
spinning down the streets of our western townships. The 
sleeping dust is for one instant aroused, whirled round in complex 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D. 35 


and unaccustomed motions, and then returns to rest again, to be 
ever replaced with fresh particles as long as the air-vortex 
continues its brief career. So during life dissolution is an 
unceasing process, and the living organism is but a temporary 
resting place of migratory atoms from the non-living world. 
Furthermore, it is also certain that there is no creation or 
destruction of force in the living organism. Here, as elsewhere, 
the rule of the conservation of energy holds good. The greater 
part of the vegetable world derives its energy direct from the 
sun’s rays, and stores it up in the form of chemical combina- 
tions. The animal world, destitute of this power, appropriates 
the energy stored up by plant life by devouring these complex 
chemical substances, albumen, fat, starch, sugar, &c. Its energy 
is derived from the chemical changes which result in the 
combination of the contained carbon, hydrogen, &c., with the 
oxygen of the air. This energy is given off mostly in the form 
of heat, a smaller fraction in the form of mechanical work, 
which for the most part is also soon converted into heat. So 
that all life derives its energy from the sun, and sooner or later 
gives it back in the form of heat. In the process there is 
change, transmutation of force, but neither loss nor gain; one 
form of vibration is replaced by another, but the chain is never 
broken. As a late distinguished physicist wrote, in lines which, 
though half jocular in form, contain serious thought :— 

‘‘ When earth and sun are frozen clods, 

‘‘ And, all its energy degraded, 

“‘Matter to Ether shall have faced, 

‘We, that is all the work we’ve done, 

‘¢ As waves in ether shall for even run 

“In swift expanding spheres through heavens beyond the sun.” 

Having grasped this conception of the living organism as a 
temporary halting place of atoms derived from the inorganic 
world as a temporary focus of energy derived from without and 
passing without again, must we add to matter and force a 
hypothetical something called ‘vitality?’ Admitting to the 
full the vast difference between the phenomena of living and 
non-living matter, and the impossibility of picturing to oneself 
any mechanical arrangement of atoms and molecules, which 
will explain the former, I ask do we make the problem any 
clearer by such an assumption? Indeed has the word vitality 
any meaning that we can figure before our minds. Is it any 
more than a verbal expression, a word that merely covers 


36 THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF LIVING MATTER. 


ignorance, the negation of knowledge ? I cannot see that it is. 
Even if we call it vital force 1 cannot see that we gain any- 
thing. For force is some form of movement, of molecular or 
atomic vibration. It is conceivable that molecular vibrations 
may occur in protoplasm which have no analogies elsewhere, but 
if so we know nothing of them. Further, they are derived if 
present from forms of vibration, chemical or heat vibrations, 
which exist without the living cell, and are speedily resolved into 
these again. Once more I think we gain nothing by the 
assumption. I may be pardoned for using an illustration which 
has done good service in much abler hands than mine. In this 
glass you have the familiar substance water, of well known and 
comparatively simple chemical constitution. You might not 
suspect it of being the seat of molecular forces of most intricate 
and mysterious complexity. Yet, if guided by scientific know- 
ledge, you follow it with the imagination, you will see that it is 
so endowed. Let this glass stand on the table sufficiently long 
and its contents will disappear; they have become converted 
into aqueous vapour diffused in the atmosphere. Let the air 
containing this vapour be transported by a favourable atmos- 
pheric disturbance to the Alps of New Zealand. The gaseous 
particles will become transformed into solid crystals of snow, 
and on microscopical examination the constituent molecules of 
our humble fluid will be seen to have arranged themselves in 
wonderful and intricate patterns of geometrical regularity, 
which for marvellous beauty cannot be surpassed even by the 
organic world. Do we render this mysterious power of water to 
assume intricate geometrical forms any easier to understand by 
attributing it to a hypothetical something called aquosity. You 
will reply doubtless that to do so is merely to invent a word, not 
to explain a phenomenon. And granting that the phenomena 
of life are much more complex than those of crystallisation, 
does this invalidate our applying the same reasoning to the word 
vitality. 

To this reasoning it may be objected that our protoplasm, a 
mere speck of structureless jelly, exhibits none of the machinery 
which might be reasonably expected in a substance capable of 
such complex evolutions as I have endeavoured to briefly 
indicate in the early part of this discourse. But this objection 
can be hardly pressed, unless we are prepared to limit the 
possibilities of organisation by what we can actually see. 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D. oh 


Protoplasm may well be, and no doubt is of infinite 
molecular complexity. Recent research has revealed a very 
complicated structure in one portion of the. cell, the nucleus, 
which by the extraordinary changes which it undergoes during 
cell-division, must be regarded as playing an important if not 
the chief part in this process. It would be interesting to 
describe these changes at leneth, but would not advance us in 
our argument. For these nuclear changes explain nothing of 
the process in which they occur, they merely indicate what we 
might have otherwise inferred that the process is a very 
complex one. 

If we contemplate living matter from the point of view of 
chemistry, we have sufficient evidence that it must be exceed- 
ingly complex. At no very distant date it was believed to be a 
peculiarity of all chemical substances derived from the products 
of vital activity (always excepting the ultimate products of its 
oxidation, such as water, carbonic acid, &c.), that they were 
incapable of formation by artificial synthesis from inorganic 
materials. The rapid progress of organic chemistry has since 
then resulted in the synthesis of great numbers of these 
substances, and has at the same time thrown much light on 
their molecular constitution. Compared with that of the sub- 
stances treated of in inorganic chemistry this constitution is 
much more complex. But chemistry falls very far short of 
revealing the constitution of even dead protoplasm, far less of 
living. It has indeed been said that chemical analysis can 
never give us any idea of the structure of living matter, because 
in the act of analysis it has become no longer living. If life 
be regarded as a metaphysical principle resident in protoplasm, 
of course it cannot be considered susceptible of analysis. But 
if not so regarded there is nothing in this objection, for all 
analysis necessarily involves destruction, the resolution of one 
form of matter into others which do not possess the same 
properties. We cannot even analyse water without resolving it 
into oxygen and hydrogen. A more serious if not fatal obstacle 
to chemical analysis lies in the impossibility of obtaining living 
matter ina pure condition. Leaving the nucleus out of con- 
sideration we are in the habit of speaking of protoplasm as 
something homogeneous. but if we consider, it cannot be so. 
As living substance is continually undergoing decomposition, it 
may be inferred that the products of this decomposition are 


88 THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF LIVING MATTER. 


constantly to be found in what we call protoplasm. We have 
reason to believe that the ultimate products formed arise not 
suddenly, but by.gradual stages of chemical degradation from 
the living matter. These transitional products will naturally be 
present to a variable extent in conjunction with the actually 
living substance itself. Again, the cell-protoplasm contains 
nutrient material, and probably (though here we haye no clear 
knowledge) intermediate products between this nutrient material 
and living matter. How much of this apparent homogeneous 
protoplasm actually possesses the properties of living matter we 
do not know, and have no present methods of ascertaining. If, 
however, we take masses of what is usually termed protoplasm 
and subject it to chemical examination we can always obtain 
from it three kinds of matter, fats, carbohydrates, and proteids. 
Of these the proteids (of which albumin is one) have a mole- 
cular constitution of peculiar complexity. A chemical formula, 
which can only be regarded as a rough approximation, C,, 
H,, SN,, O. has been assigned to them as the result of 
analysis. Kven if approximately correct, this formula only 
indicates their minimal complexity. Their real structure might 
be more correctly indicated by any multiple of this. But the 
composition of proteids has no relation to that of cell- 
protoplasm except this, that the latter must be more complex, 
and may be exceedingly more complex. Furthermore, living 
protoplasm differs fundamentally from dead proteid in one 
respect, that it must be regarded as in a peculiar state of 
unstable chemical equilibrium, while the latter is a comparatively 
stable substance. To this point I shall return presently. 
Although we are unable to follow the complex physico- 
chemical changes which we believe to occur in living cells, we 
are able in one special instance to obtain indirect evidence that 
such changes do occur. The association of chemical and 
electrical changes are very obscurely understood in the inorganic 
world. But itis well known that such an association is real. 
We have no means of detecting any electric phenomena in the 
amceba, but in two highly specialised living tissues, muscle and 
nerve, of the higher animals we can detect them. If a muscle 
removed from the body be stimulated by an electric shock (which 
for present purposes may be regarded as instantaneous) the 
contraction which follows does not occur instantaneously. There 
is an appreciable interval, called the latent period, which 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D. 39 


intervenes between the stimulus and the contraction. Accurately 
measured, this interval occupies about 1/100th of a second. 
During this brief interval the electrical reaction of different parts 
of the muscle undergoes a change. This change arises at the 
point of stimulus, and travels as a wave along the whole length 
of muscle, which, be it remembered, is still in an apparently 
quiescent condition. Immediately or very soon after this 
electrical wave has exhausted itself, the muscular contraction 
begins. The conclusion can hardly be resisted that muscular 
contraction is preceded as well as accompanied by physico- 
chemical changes. The rate at which the electrical wave travels 
has been measured ; in the frog it is about three metres 10ft.) 
per second. In warm-blooded animals it is probably somewhat 
faster. Its wave-length in the frog is about 3 millimetres (one- 
eighth of an inch). Surely these results point to the existence of 
some very complex mechanism. But muscular contraction is a 
vital act, performed by a living tissue. When we find that 
similar electrical changes have been observed to accompany the 
contractions of the leaves of the plant called Venus’ Fly-trap, 
the structure of which is as far removed as possible from 
muscular tissue, we are, I think, justified in generalising, to the 
effect that all movements of living matter, including those of the 
amoeba, are due to physico-chemical changes, and depend on an 
exceedingly complex mechanism. 


If we apply our electric shock, not to a muscle, but to a 
nerve, no obvious result ensues, unless the nerve is attached toa 
muscle. In that case the muscle contracts, showing that a 
stimulus has been propagated along the nerve fibres. But 
whether a muscle be attached to the nerve or not, examination 
by suitable apparatus will show that this propagation has been 
accompanied by an electrical change precisely similar to that 
which occurs in a muscle during the latent period, with the 
exception that it has a greater wave-length, 18 millimetres 
(three-quarters of an inch), and a considerably greater velocity. 
This velocity in the frog is about 28 metres (92 feet) per 
second, in man about 33 metres (107 feet) per second 
(compared to the velocity of light, or electricity, or even of sound, 
this is extremely slow). It can hardly be doubted that these 
electrical changes in nerve fibres are due to some physico- 
chemical mechanism, and that their velocity is fixed by this 


40 THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF LIVING MATTER. 


mechanism. Yet it will hardly be denied that nerve fibres are 
living tissue, and that the conduction of impulses is a vital act. 

Some light seems to be thrown on the unstable chemical 
equilibrium of living matter by its great susceptibility to the 
action of a large number of substances, which we call poisons, 
Many of these are fatal to protoplasm, converting it into dead 
matter, even when they come into contact with it in infinitesimal 
dilution. On the physico-chemical theory of living matter this 
action presents no special difficulty to the understanding. The 
molecule of strychnine for example can be regarded as a com- 
plicated piece of mechanism, which when brought into contact 
with the still more complex mechanism of the cells of the 
spinal cord at first excites its molecular or other vibrations and 
disturbances to greater activity, but carrying its action further 
it deranges this mechanism altogether, in other words the cells 
are killed. Another poison will diminish the activity of the 
cells of the spinal cord from the first, and then kill them. On 
the physico-chemical theory the conflict is not wholly unin- 
telligible. We can to a certain extent picture to ourselves two 
mechanisms which interfere with one another. But if we 
suppose living matter to be inhabited by a metaphysical 
something, ‘ vitality,’’ how can we imagine the struggle between 
it and our strychnine molecule? The vitalists may, to borrow 
an old witticism, conjure up their ‘‘ metaphysical grenadier,”’ 
but how will they make him fight? 

To all this reasoning 1 can imagine the objection raised : 
‘¢ You may, perhaps, in a few instances, and toa small extent, 
discover physico-chemical analogies in the behaviour of living 
matter. All this is beside the point. No mechanism, however 
complicated, no possible combination of atoms and molecules 
can be conceived to explain all the activities of protoplasm.” 
Here, I think, we come upon the ‘‘ stupid, senseless matter” of 
our old author. If we arbitrarily conceive of our atoms and 
molecules as so many hard, round particles, like small shot, only 
much smaller, such an objection is natural. But this conception 
is a purely arbitrary one. We cannot at present form any clear 
idea of the structure of non-living matter which will explain all 
the phenomena which it presents. For instance, who of us has 
any clear conception of what takes place in and around a metallie 
wire when a current of electricity is passed through it? Or, to 
ask another question, how can we explain the attraction that 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D. 4} 


every particle of matter throughout the universe has for every 
other particle, which attraction we know as gravitation? Or, 


again, why is it that an atom of oxygen will combine with two 
atoms of hydrogen? We say that the oxygen has an ‘ affinity ”’ 


for the hydrogen ; but this is merely to re-state the fact in a 
figurative way. On what mechanism does this “affinity ”’ 
depend? It would be easy to multiply unanswerable questions 
of this kmd. We need to remember that the simplest form of 
matter is something mysterious, as to the nature of which we 
know very little. 


To cease the argument here would be easy, but it would be 
to shirk the real difficulty of the problem of life, a difficulty 
which is no doubt present in your minds. Life in ourselves is 
indissolubly connected with consciousness. Furthermore, when 
we come to the bottom of things, it is the nature of our own 
consciousness which really interests us most. That this con- 
sciousness is intimately connected with certain living animal 
cells, which, with their processes and ramifications, constitute 
that highly complex organ known as the brain, cannot be 
disputed. A slight external pressure on this organ, a small clot 
of blood washed into one of its blood-vessels, cause instantaneous 
loss of consciousness. A febrile condition, or the presence of a 
minute proportion of various poisons in the blood profoundly 
affects our consciousness. A long, lowering illness will some- 
time reduce a powerful intellect to a condition of utter childish- 
ness, to be followed after recovery by a complete return to mental 
power. ‘These facts are familiar, but what explanation can be 
given of this association of matter and consciousness ? 


Let me say at once that science has no explanation to offer. 
I would go further, and say that, to the best of my belief, no 
conceivable extension of scientific knowledge would bring us any 
nearer to a solution. By way of illustration, let me remind you 
of an instance in which science is able to offer explanations. 
Few things are more complicated than the infinite variety of 
sounds produced by the human voice. Yet these can to a large 
extent be analysed and resolved into their component parts, and 
the method of their production is also susceptible of scientific 
investigation. By a simple arrangement of mirrors it is possible 
for a singer to watch the motions of his own larynx, and to 
observe the movements of the vibrating vocal cords as the various 


42 THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF LIVING MATTER. 


notes are sounded. Let us now, by an effort of the imagination 

suppose that it were possible, by some extension of scientific 
knowledge, for a man to directly inspect the workings of his own 
cerebrum. There is nothing inconceivable in such a supposition. 
Let us imagine further that it were possible for any one of us 
not only to observe the intricate interweaving of the processes of 
his own brain cells, but to be cognisant of every molecular tremor 
which passed down those processes, and to be able even to follow 
the vibrations of molecules and intricate dance of atoms as one 
micro-chemical change leads to another in the mysterious 
laboratory of the protoplasm of the nerve cell. Extend the 
imagination as far as you please, and then ask yourselves 
whether the nature of consciousness, of the thoughts that 
accompany these molecular storms, becomes any clearer. If 
you will allow me to anticipate your reply, it will be—‘ Not by 
the least infinitesimal fraction.”’ 


Granted that direct observation and experiment can here 
avail us nothing, and that the nature of consciousness is 
inconceivable, it might still be contended that the intimate 
connection between matter and consciousness is not confined to 
the solitary instance of the human cerebrum, that it is in some 
sort common to all living matter. The argument would run 
somewhat on these lines: Consciousness is known directly only 
to the individual. By analogy and inference he naturally, 
indeed inevitably, attributes a similar consciousness to his fellow 
men. But the lower animals most nearly allied to ourselves 
also exhibit, in an inferior degree, phenomena which in our 
own species we should consider to be indicative of the possession 
of consciousness, and by irresistible analogy we are led to 
attribute consciousness to them also. This once granted, we 
have a series of animal forms of gradually decreasing complexity, 
in no part of which can we draw a line and say, here conscious- 
ness ends. A similar line of reasoning may be applied to the 
development of the individual. By insensible gradations, 
therefore, we are led to attribute a consciousness of some sort to 
the ameba. If to the amceba, then also to the white blood- 
corpuscle, and to every animal or vegetable cell. 


It seems to me that if this line of argument be admitted we 
could not stop here. If we attribute consciousness to every speck 
of protoplasm, it would be equally easy, or equally difficult, to 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D. 43 


attribute it to a drop of water, or a grain of sand, in fact to all 
matter. What we should mean by the word consciousness used 
in such connections it is impossible to say. We seem to have 
come back. to something like the old “ vitality,” but with 
extensions to inanimate nature, like the “plastic nature”’ of 
John Ray; execept that we do not invoke this “plastic 
nature” to explain physical phenomena. Furthermore, these 
speculations offer no explanation whatever of the nature of 
consciousness; they merely extend the problem. And it might 
with great force be urged that the chain of analogy has been 
strained to breaking-point. Starting with the human conscious- 
ness, the nature of which is quite inconceivable to us, we have 
imagined the existence of an infinite series of ‘‘ consciousnesses”’ 
equally inconceivable, but certainly different to the first. We 
have landed ourselves into a region where assertion and denial 
are both little more than verbal, and therefore, to my mind, 
alike illegitimate. 


It is no help to the understanding of consciousness, as we 
know it, to attribute it to the combination of the separate 
‘“‘ consciousnesses’”’ of some thousand nerve-cells. To speak of 
the human mind as built up of such particles, as a wall is 
composed of bricks, or as water is composed of oxygen and 
hydrogen, is to use materialistic propositions of something which 
is not matter; to misuse language, not to express mental 
conceptions, but to conceal their absence. The synthesis is 
unthinkable. We have no right to forget that all our knowledge 
of matter depends on sensations represented in consciousness. 
Our molecules, atoms, ether, vortices, are all only extensions of 
sensation. They are what, if our inductions are trustworthy, 
we should see and feel if our sense-organs had their range 
sufficiently extended. Of what lies behind the sensations we do 
and can know nothing. The real nature of the external universe 
is as much beyond the possibility of knowledge as the nature of 
consciousness itself. There is nothing in science to contradict 
the familiar lines of the poet :—- 

‘‘ The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces, 
‘* The solemn temples, the great globe itself, 

‘¢ Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve 

‘“« And, like this insubstantial pageant faded, 
‘‘Teave not a rack behind. We are such stuff 


‘“‘ As dreams are made of, and our little life 
“Ts rounded with a sleep.” 


44 THE NATURE AND ORIGIN OF LIVING MATTER. 


Leaving the nature of consciousness on one side, as a 
problem altogether outside the range of science, we may, I think, 
regard all the other properties of protoplasm as susceptible of 
physical and chemical explanations. I do not see that this is a 
conclusion which ought to give offence to anyone. It is the 
natural and inevitable result of the application of scientific 
method to the study of living matter. So long as in the non- 
living world motion was regarded as a property of matter, which 
needed some immaterial agent to keep it from ceasing at any 
moment, a science of physics was not possible. In the same way 
the continuance of the supposition of an arbitrary principle of 
vitality which made the phenomena of protoplasm something 
quite different in kind from other chemical and physical changes 
would have deprived the science of biology of any stable founda- 
tion. It is true that with our present knowledge we have scarcely 
approached the ultimate problems of physiology. Yet all 
that has been learnt, and it is no small total, has been 
acquired on the assumption that living matter is subject to 
ordinary physical and chemical laws. In this sense science is 
materialistic. I use the word with some misgivings, as there is, 
I know, a vague popular horror of a something called 
‘‘ Materialism,’’ which is supposed to explain away all mystery 
from the universe. Why, the very air we breathe is full of 
mystery! Such fears are irrational, mere chimaeras raised by 
ignorance and want of thought, and therefore beyond the reach 
of argument. 


To fulfil the promise of my title I ought to add a few words 
regarding the origin of life. This is a problem to be approached 
with diffidence. In speaking of the nature of living matter we 
were treating of something that we can actually see and examine, 
but its origin is far removed. We must recognise that our 
present state of knowledge shows a great gap between non-living 
and living matter, and we know nothing of any development of 
the former into the latter. We no longer believe, as some used 
to believe, that frogs arise from a mixture of dust and rain- 
water, that maggots are bred from decaying flesh, that bacteria 
arise de novo in turnip infusion. At the same time we have very 
strong reasons for thinking that at a distant epoch this globe 
was in a molten condition, at a temperature which would render 
the existence of any living beings impossible. Life must be 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D. 45 


concluded to have arisen since this epoch. Sir William 
Thompson has suggested that living matter in a dormant or 
spore condition may have been conveyed to the earth by some 
falling meteorite. If we admit this possibility our difficulty 
is but pushed further back. There is but one method, that I 
know of, of meeting the difficulty, and that is by 
invoking the principle of the ‘‘continuity of nature.’ By 
an induction, supported by numberless instances, we have come 
to believe that natural changes come about, not by sudden and 
violent means, but by the summation of long series of gradual 
transitions. We can, for instance, trace in thought much of the 
gradual alteration sustained by our cooling globe as it passed 
from its primitive molten condition into one suitable for sustain- 
ing life. Wecan trace the gradual transitions between living 
beings. Under their infinite diversity we can trace a funda- 
mental similarity. The nuclear changes during cell-division, for 
example, to which I have already alluded, appear to be of a 
similar character (with some variations in detail) in all animal 
and vegetable cells, from the most highly organised animals and 
plants to the lowest. Where we meet with gaps in our 
classifications, we are accustomed to suppose that these imply 
the former existence of intermediate forms, which have now 
become extinct. In this way we may become inclined to believe 
that the present gap between non-living and living may at one 
time have been filled by steps of which we are at present 
ignorant. An attitude of scepticism on this point is reasonable, 
but if forced to choose between the hypotheses of continuity and 
discontinuity I should incline to the former. 


This brings me to the end of my task, which has expanded 
much beyond my original intentions. My object has been not 
to attempt impossible solutions, but merely to state these 
problems, as they present themselves to my own mind, as clearly 
as I could. How far I have succeeded in making myself 
intelligible is for you to judge. 


i ef | 


LIST OF MINERALS, WALSH AND TINAROO 
MINING DISTRICT, NORTH QUEENSLAND. 


J. STEWART BERGE 
By |. J. HARRISON BROWNLEE 
| R. COLIN RINGROSE. 


[Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 13th May, 1899.] 


A Few particulars of the great Walsh and Tinaroo Mining 
District of Northern Queensland will not be out of place as a 
preface to this first attempt at cataloguing its known minerals. 


Messrs. William Jack and party discovered the first tin 
mine—‘‘ The Great Northern ’’—in 1879, and from that year up 
to the present new finds have continually been and are now 
being made, which demonstrate the extent and variety of its 
mineral resources. 


Tin, copper, lead, silver, wolfram and bismuth are the chief 
mineral productions, and numerous other useful minerals, such 
as antimony, molybdenite, zinc, &c., are to be found, but do not 
pay to work under present conditions. It is only during the 
past year or two that wolfram and bismuth have been obtained 
in any quantity. 

Within the boundaries of the district are included several 
proclaimed goldfields, the gold returns from which show many 
thousands of ounces. 


Extending from Mount Spurgeon in the north to Christmas 
Hill Station in the south, and from Cooroo Peak in the east to 
Torwood in the west, distances of 230 miles and about 150 miles 
direct respectively, the Walsh and Tinaroo has a proclaimed area 
of 12,640,000 acres, or 19,750 square miles, being larger than 
Switzerland and nearly as large as Tasmania, and of this vast 


48 LIST OF MINERALS. 


area an experienced geologist has written as follows :—‘‘ A more 
highly mineralized district it would be hard to find on the face 
of the globe.” 
NOTES 7ve CLASSIFICATION. 

Drvision 1.—Includes the native metals. 
Diviston 2.—The principal ores. 
Division 3.—The varieties of silica and rock forming minerals. 
Diviston 4.—The precious stones. 
Division 5.—The organic products. 

The following summary will show clearly how the 

classification has been made :— 
Division 1.—Native elements. 

Section 1. Metallic—Gold, silver, platinum, ete. 

Section 2. Non-metallic—Graphite, etc. 

Division 2.—Metals in combination with various elements forming 
ores, etc. 

Section 1. Metallic minerals (principal ores, i.e., compounds 
of the following metals: Gold, silver, mercury, 
bismuth, etc.) 

Section 2. Earthy minerals (compounds of elements forming 
earths, clays, etc., excepting silica). 

Aluminium, potassium, calcium, ete. 
Division 8.—Silica and the silicates and other rock-ferming 
minerals. 

Section 1. Silica in its many varieties :—Quartz, agate, 
opal, jasper, etc. 

Section 2. Silicates or ordinary rock-forming minerals, e.g., 
Felspars, micas, hornblende, zeolites, etc. 

Section 8. Other rock-forming minerals. Lime, iron, ete. 
Division 4.—Precious stones. Garnet, topaz, zircon, etc. 
Division 5.—Organic products. Coal, ete. 

(N.B.—The popular classification of Campbell has been 
followed. 

Notr.—This list has been compiled from reliable records 
and geological reports on the district. 

We also acknowledge the valuable assistance given us by 
Mr. Skertchley, and many experienced miners and others 
connected with mining who forwarded us information in reply 
to our inquiries. 


BY J. STEWART BERGE, ETC. 49 


DIVISION 1.—NATIVE ELEMENTS. 


Section 1.—MErTattic. 
Reference No. 


1. Goup (Alluvial).—Found in the Russell River terraces, 
the wash being capped with basalt. 

Tinaroo Creek with the tin. 

Hodgkinson River. 

Tate Goldfield, and 

Deep Lead, Herberton, in small quantities in tin 
drifts. 

( Reefs and Lodes ). 

Towalla, on Russell Extended. 

Balcooma, a little over 100 miles 8.S.W. of 
Herberton. 

Mt. Luxton, California Creek. 

Hodgkinson Goldfield in numerous quartz reefs, 
enumerated in Jack’s Report on that field. 

On the East Hodgkinson, associated with iron 
pyrites, copper pyrites, and galena, and at 
Northcote with antimony. 

Tate Goldfield, the principal mine being the 
“Golden Treasure,’’ which occurs in a schistose 
sandstone country. 

The Mareeba Goldfield—‘‘ Mareeba Jubilee”’ line 
of reef in schist country. 

Gold is also found in many of the outcrops of the 
copper lodes of the Chillagoe, but especially at 
Arbouin, where it appears to occur in payable 
quantities. 

The total output of gold from the Hodgkinson 
alone, to the end of 1898, exceeded 240,000 
ounces. 

2. Smver.—Mount Garnet, associated with the copper ore, in 
threads and shapeless masses. 

The ‘‘Combination Copper Mine” at Halpin’s 
Camp, in the Mt. Albion locality, has pro- 
duced some very fine specimens. 

Newellton with lead ores. 

‘‘ Nellie ’’ Lease, Chillagoe, with copper ores. 

‘- Queenslander,’ Chillagoe, with copper ores. 

‘*Mountain Maid,’”’ Mt. Albion, with lead ores. 


50 LIST OF MINERALS. 


Reference No. 
3. Correr.—Mount Garnet, in country rock. 


‘‘Paisley ’’ Shaft, Muldiva. 

‘‘ Lancelot’’ Lease, Newellton. 

‘* Combination Copper Mine ”’ at Holpin’s Camp. 

‘¢ Sorata ’’ Lease, Moorefield. 

‘«‘ Nellie’ and ‘‘ Queenslander ’’ Leases, Chillagoe. 

Moss copper is found in some of the mines in the 
vicinity of Calcifer. 

4, Puatinum.—Occasionally found in minute flakes among the 
fine grains of gold on the Russell Goldfield. 

5. BismutH.—Some very good specimens have been found at 
Lappa Lappa, where wolfram is associated with 
it. 

Wolfram Camp, Walsh River, with wolfram and 
molybdenite. 
‘‘ Lancelot ’’ Lease, Newellton, with tin ore. 
The ‘‘ Bradlaugh,’’ Herberton. 
6. Arsenic.—Rare ; at Dargalong. 


DIVISION 1.—SECTION 2. 
Non-METALLIC. 


7. Grapuite ( Plwnbago).—* Star of the South,’’ Herberton, 
Watsonville, and in the vicinity of Thornborough. 


DIVISION 2.—SECTION 1. 
Meratuic Minerats (Principal Ores). 
Ores oF SILVER.— 
8. Argentite—Silver Glance—Sulphuret of Silver. 
Dargalong, Chillagoe ; 
The ‘‘ Comstock,’’ Lappa Lappa. 


9. Pyrargyrite—Ruby Silver. 
Muldiva. 
10. Proustite—Light red silver ore. 
Muldiva. 
iD Stephanite—Brittle Silver Ore. 
Muldiva. 
12. Cerargyrite—Horn Silver—Silver Chloride. 


Principally at Mt. Albion, 
Muldiva, and 
Lappa Lappa, 


BY J. STEWART BERGE, ETC. 51 


Reference No. 


Montalbion, Muldiva, and Lappa Lappa have been 
the three principal silver producing centres of 
this area. 

The total yield of this mineral for the district to 
the end of the year 1898, was 2,200,000 ounces, 


Ores or Copper.— 
13. Chalcopyrite—Copper pyrites— 
Found principally at Mount Garnet, Mt. Cardwell, 
Newellton, Coolgarra, Fossilbrook, Mt. Molloy, 
Mt. Albion, and in most of the Chillagoe copper 
mines. 
14, Chalcocite—Copper glance—Vitreous copper ore.— 
In the mines in the vicinity of Watsonville, 
Mungarra, Mt. Albion, and Calcifer. 
15. Bornite—Erubescite—Variegated Copper Pyrites.— 
The Mount Garnet centre. 
‘* Ruddygore ” Lease, Chillagoe. 
‘* Pirate ’’ Lease, Tate. 
Montalbion and Watsonville. 
16. Ketrahedrite—Gray Copper—Fahlerz.— 
Found in large quantities in one locality only, 
viz.—Mt. Albion Hill, in a pipe vein. 


ie Atacamite—Copper Ovichloride. 
The ‘‘Ruddygore’’ and ‘ Boomerang’’ Leases, 
Chillagoe. 


‘* Paisley ’’ Lease, Muldiva. 
18. Cuprite—Red Copper Ore. 

Magnificent specimens obtained all over the copper 
region, principally the ‘“ Dorothy” and Griffith 
Leases, Chillagoe. 

‘*Red Oxide” and ‘North Australian,’’ Watson- 
ville. 

‘ Paisley,’’ Muldiva, in fine needle-like crystals. 

Mount Garnet and Mt. Cardwell. 


19. Tile ore—earthy oxide of copper. 
The Prospecting Claim, Newellton. 
20. Melaconite—Black copper. 


Occurs as a black powder in most of the copper 
mines, e.g., North Australian, Watsonville, and 
Anniversary, Herberton. 


§2 LIST OF MINERALS. 


Reference No. 
21. Chalcanthite—Blue vitrol—Sulphate of copper. 


Occurs as a secondary deposit in nearly all copper 
mines, and at Montalbion forms magnificent 
sheets of stalactite. 

29. Olivenite—Hydrous copper arsenate. 

Muldiva up to the present is the only known 
locality within the district. 

23; Malachite—Green carbonate of copper. 

Found in all the copper localities named, among 
the principal of which are the ‘‘ Griffith’’ and 
‘Boomerang ”’ at Chillagoe, and the ‘ Paisley”’ 
at Muldiva. 

24. Azurite—Blue carbonate of copper. 

North Australian, Watsonville; Maybell, Newell- 
ton; Boomerang, Chillagoe; and in most of 
the copper mines throughout the area. Mr. 
Skertchley states that the finest specimens 
known to him were obtained from Muldiva. 


25. Dioptase— Copper silicate. 
Occurs at Mungana and Muldiva. 
26. Chrysocolla—H ydrous copper silicate. 


Muldiva, and generally throughout Chillagoe. 
27. Bournonite. 
Albion Mine, Montalbion. 
28. A Copper Phosphate. 
Found in the Queenslander Lease, Chillogoe, and 
at Arbouin. 
N.B.—The total output of copper for the district, 
to the end of December, 1898, was 2,150 tons. 


29. Mercury.—The Sulphide Cinnabar. 
Found at Dargalong. 
Mercury is also found in small quantities in the 
‘* Lady Jane,” at Mt. Albion. 


Leap OREs. 
30. Galena—Lead Sulphide. 

Occurs in great quantities in many localities 
throughout the area, a few of the principal 
being as follow :— 

The ‘Silver Streak,’’ Rainbow and White Star 


BY J. STEWART BERGE, ETC. 53 


Reference No- 
mines, Newellton; ‘‘ Penzance,’’ ‘‘ Queenslander,” 
and Macrossan Leases, Chillagoe ; 

Muldiva, Coolgarra, Mt. Albion, and Dargalong. 

31. Anglesite—Lead Sulphate. 

Not uncommon with galena, but particularly fine 
specimens have been obtained from the ‘‘ Moun- 
tain Maid,’’ Mt. Albion. 

32. Miniwn—Ovide of Lead. 

Penzance and Macrossan Leases, Chillagoe ; 

Dargalong, and as a secondary deposit at Muldiva 
and Mt. Albion. 

33. Waulfenite—Lead Molybdate. 

Mr. Shertchley states that he has seen but one 
specimen in this district, which he was informed 
was found here, but he could not determine the 


locality. 
34. Linarite—Sulphide of Lead and Copper. 
‘Caledonia ’’ Mine, Newellton. 
35. Minetite—Lead Arsenate. 
Mount Garnet. 
36. Pyromorphite—Lead Phosphate. 


Newellton, Chillagoe, Coolgarra, and Mt. Albion. 
Some of these specimens were exceedingly 
beautiful. 
37. Cerussite—Lead Carbonate—White Lead Ore. 
Newellton. 
Various mines at Lappa Lappa. 
‘* Paisley ’’ Lease, Muldiva. 
‘‘Queenslander’’ and ‘¢ Girofla’’ Leases, 
Chillagoe. 
‘* Vulcan,” Irvinebank ; and 
Dargalong. 
38. Barysilite—Lead Silicate. 
Specimens have been obtained at Calcifer, and 
Mr. Skertchley informs us that this is the 
cnly known locality, with the exception of. 
two in Sweden. 
N.B.—Total lead production of the district to the 
end of December, 1898, was 8,308 tons. 


54 


LIST OF MINERALS. 


Reference No, 


39. 


40. 


41. 


42. 


43. 


44 


46. 


Zinc OrEs.— 
Sphalerite 


Zine Sulphide—Black Jack. 
Newellton, silver field. 
Penzance and Eclipse Mines, Chillagoe. 
Paisley Mine, Muldiva; and 
Woodleigh. 
Calamine—H ydrous silicate of zine. 
Rainbow Mine, Newellton; and Mt. Albion. 
Goslarite—Zine sulphate. 
Found as a secondary deposit at Mt. Albion. 
Willemite—Zine silicate. 
Montalbion. 
Zine carbonate. 


Smithsonite 
Montalbion. 


. CopaLt.— 
In small quantities in the ‘‘ Lady Jane,’’ Mont- 
albion. 
Staaten River, near the Lynd, and Mt. Garnet. 


Tin OrEs.— 
Stannite—Tin sulphide. 

Lass o’ Gowrie Claim, Eureka Creek; and at 
Bakerville. 

Cassiterite—binowvide of tin. 

In quartz at No. 2 Shaft, Great Northern, 
Herberton. 

In chlorite at Great Northern. 

In porphyry at Watsonville. 

With fluorspar in the Poor Stroller and Bradlaugh 
Claims, Herberton; and the Lass o’ Gowrie 
and Gladstone Claims, at Eureka Creek. 

Associated with copper ores in greywackes and 
sandstones, etc., North Australian Mine, 
Watsonville. 

With metallic bismuth in Lancelot, at Newellton. 

With bismuth and chlorite in Vulcan, Irvinebank. 

With garnets in Dreadnought, Watsonville. 

With wolfram in Stewart’s T Claim, Watsonville. 

With galena and pyrites, at Koorboora. 

With native copper in Lancelot, at Newellton. 


BY J. STEWART BERGE, ETC. 55 


Reference No. 

With tourmaline at Irvinebank, with zinc ore at 
Mt. Albion, and with azurite, aluminite, chlorite, 
fluorspar, goethite, haematite, limonite, mis- 
quickel, penninite, pyrites, quartz, topaz, and 
wolfram at Coolgarra. 

Some of the varieties of this ore of tin found 
within the area, are ruby, amber, rosin, and 
wood tin. 

The principal tin producing centres are as under :-— 
Lode Tin.— 

Herberton. 
Watsonville. 
Irvinebank. 
Coolgarra. 
Newellton. 
Bakerville. 
Montalbion. 
Thompson’s Creek. 
Glen Linedale. 
Koorboora, etc. 
Alluvial Tin.— 
Herberton and Deep Lead. 
California Creek. 
Woolooman Creek. 
Tate. 
Tinaroo Creek. 
Oakey Creek, ete. 

Particulars of tin production of District to end 
December, 1898 :—Alluvial, 5,288 tons, value 
£226,622; Lode, 22,750 tons, value £1,050,850; 
Total, 28,038 tons, value £1,277,472. 

Ore or BismutH.— 
47. Bismuthite—Carbonate of Bismuth. 

Associated with tin lode near Fossilbrook. 

N.B.—Sixteen cwt. of bismuth ore was exported 
during 1898, of the value of £224 (estimated). 

ANTIMONY.— 
48. Stibnite—Antimony Sulphide. 
West Albion Mine at Mt. Albion. 


56 LIST OF MINERALS. 


Reference No. 


Many claims in the Watsonville locality ; Planted 
Tree Crossing ; and on the Walsh River, a few 
miles from Watsonville, rich lodes are to be 
found, samples taken from the outcrops giving 
very good returns, but it is stated that the 
present demand and value do not pay for 
working. 

N.B.—Two large leases have recently been taken 
up for the purpose of mining for antimony. 

49. Cervantite—Antimony Oxide. 
Obtained in a few of the localities with the 
sulphide, and near Thornborough. 
50. NickEL.— 
Has been found at Coolgarra and Chillagoe. 
Tron OrnEs.— 

Found everywhere in the district. There are 
regular mountains of these ores in some 
localities, viz.—Woodleigh and Chillagoe. 

51. Pyrite—Iron pyrites—Sulphide of iron. 

Associated with tin, lead, and copper in various 
lodes throughout the district. Sometimes with 
arsenical pyrites, at Herberton and Watsonville. 

Chillagoe, Mt. Albion, Irvinebank, Mt. Garnet, 
and especially the ‘‘ Chance’ mine, Watsonville. 

52. Marcasite—White iron pyrites. 

Common at Mt. Albion in all its forms, viz., 

radiated, hepatic, coxcomb, and spear. 


55. Pyrrhotite—Magnetic tron pyrites. 
Herberton, Watsonville, and Mt. Albion. 
54. Arsenopyrite—Mispeckel. 
Plentiful in the Mt. Albion centre. 
55. Haematite—Specular iron ore. 


Very abundant all over the area. At Red Hills, 
near Mungara, occurs as a glistening specular 
iron. At Mt. Albion as nodules of clay iron- 
stone. 

Hodgkinson. 

Coolgarra, and 

Russell River. 


Reference No. 


56. 


57. 


58. 


59. 


60. 


61. 


62. 


63. 


64. 


BY J. STEWART BERGE, ETC. 57 


Magnetite— Magnetic tron ore. 
The Boomerang, Chillagoe; Mt. Cardwell, and 
Newellton. 
Occurs rather sparingly in the ironstone masses, 
but hitherto has not been recognised in massive 
form. 
Menaccanite—I1lmenite—Titanic tron. 
Found in grains in the wash at the Russell Gold- 
field. 
Deep Lead Sands and Lake Kacham. 
Melanterite—Copperas—Iron vitriol. 
Occurs as a secondary deposit in many of the 
copper mines of the district. 
Limonite—Brown haematite. 
Abundant where haematite occurs (see haematite). 
Columbite—N iobite. 
In the tin leads beyond Fossilbrook. 


Gotheite 
Coolgarra. 


hydrous tron oxide. 


Scorodite—Phosphate of tron. 

At Arbouin, West Chillagoe ; and the Silver Star, 
Mt. Albion. 

Virianite—H ydrous tron phosphate. 

The Anniversary, Herberton; and as specks in 
the decomposed ferruginous matter about 
Watsonville. 

Siderite—Spathic tron—Iron carbonate. 

The Federation at Watsonville, and not uncommon 

where haematite is found. 


ARSENIC.— 


65. 
66. 


67. 


Orpiment— Yellow sulphide. 
Realyar. 
Occurs in the St. Kilda and Chance Claims at 
Watsonville. 
The Iolanthe, Irvine Bank, The Consolidated, Mt. 
Albion, and at Herberton. 
Arsenolite—White Arsenic. 
In the vicinity of Watsonville and other places. 


58 LIST OF MINERALS. 
Reference No. 
68. MancanEsE.— 
69. Pyrolusite—Black Oxide of Manganese. 
Redcap, Griffith, Queenslander and Macrossan 
Mines, Chillagoe; and the Hodgkinson Gold- 


field. 
70. Psilomelane—H ydrous Oxide of Manganese. 
Specimens have been obtained in parts of district. 
Hf be Wad—Boy Manganese. 


Occurs in patches in the Herberton series of rocks, 
and is not uncommon. 
72. Motyppenum.— 
75. The Sulphide—Molybdenite. 
Found around Herberton; also found associated 
with wolfram and bismuth at the Wolfram 
Camp. 
On the Tate River, about 25 miles from the 
Telegraph Station, there are quantities which 
would pay if there was a demand for large 
parcels. 
74. Tunesten.— 
(5. _ Wolfram—Tungystate of Iron and Manganese. 
Principally at the Wolfram Camp and Lappa 
Lappa ; also occurs in the vicinity of Herberton, 
Coolgarra, Eureka Creek, and Woodleigh. 
N.B.—544 tons of this ore were exported during 
1898. Some of the Wolfram Camp wolfram 
yielded as much as 67 per cent tungstic acid. 
During the present year larger parcels have been 
sent away, giving good returns. 


76. Scheelite—Tungstate of lime. 
Found at Cattle Creek, Wolfram Camp, and 
Watsonville. 
die Uranium. 


We can learn of one place only in the district 
where this mineral has been found, and that is 
Watsonville, at which place Mr. Pyle states 
specimens have been found. 
78. Torbernite—Hydrous phosphate of Uranium and copper. 
Said to be found in the vicinity of Watsonville. 


BY J. STEWART BERGE, ETC. 59 


Reference No. 


79. 


80. 


Selenium. 

Specimens have been obtained from the Albion 
Mine at Mt. Albion, some of which were 
exhibited at the Melbourne Exhibition in 1888. 

Common at Chillagoe. 

Titanium—Rutile—Titanic o.vide. 

Coolgarra and Tate Tin Mines. 

Also fairly abundant in the gold gravels. 


DIVISION 2.—SECTION 2. 


Compounds of elements forming earths, clays, etc., 
excepting silica. 


81. AtumiIntuM.— 


82. Aluminite—Hydrous aluminium sulphate. 

Coolgarra. 

83. Alumina. 

The oxide is a constituent of a large part of the 
earthy siliceous minerals, as the _ felspars 
micas, etc., and the characterising ingredient of 
common clays. 

(See micas and felspars). 

84, Macnestum.— 
Its compounds occur abundantly as in tale dolo- 
mite, which, see 
85 Hpsomite—Magnestum sulphate.— 
Lady Catherine Mine on the Hodgkinson. 
86. Magnesite—Carb magnesium. 
Newellton. 
87. Caucium.— 

Widely and abundantly disseminated as in its 
compounds, limestone, gypsum, fluorspar, all 
of which are given in this list. 

88. Potassium. 
Occurs combined in the minerals muscovite, 
) orthoclase, ete. 
89. Boron.— 
Occurs combined as in tourmaline. 
90. Soprum.— 


Always occurs combined, as in albite. 


60 LIST OF MINERALS. 


Reference No, 
90a. Sodium chloride in the mineral waters at the Innot 
Hot Springs. 
91. Litarum.— 
A trace of lithia is found in the Springs’ Waters. 
92. Barrum.— 
See Barytes. 
93. SrrontIumM.— 
Occurs combined as in arragonite. 


DIVISION 3.—SECTION 1. 
Smica anpD Irs Many Varreties.— 
93a. Silica and the Silicatesand other rock forming minerals. 
94. Quartz.—/ O.vide of silicia ). 

Found throughout the whole area. 

Commanly the gangue of tin ore in porphyry 
country; also the gangue of the auriferous reefs 
of the Hodgkinson and Mareeba Goldfields. 

Quartz, VARIETIES OF.— 
95. Rock crystals. 

Plentiful in all tin country. They have a tendency 
to become smoky or cairngarm colored at the 
apex. 

96. Smoky quartz. 

At the Wolfram Camp, Walsh River; also in the 

tin grounds throughout the district. 
OT. Amethyst. 

Rather fine crystals in the granite at Mt. Borunda, 

Tate ; and at Coolgarra. 


98. False topaz. 
Abundant in the tin grounds of the area. 
99. Rose Quartz. 
Mt. Borunda, Tate. 
100. Milky Quartz. 


The common variety found everywhere. 
101. Prase. : 
One or two specimens have been obtained from 
the gravel in a creek at Dargalong. 
102. Chalcedony. 
Chillagoe. 
(Sub-divisions) 


BY J. STEWART BERGE, ETC. 61 


Reference No. 


103. Carnelian. 

In Wild River. 
104. Sard. 

In Tate River. 
105. Agate. 


Good specimens obtained near Bellevue Station, 
Mitchell River. 


106. Chert. 
Occurs occasionally in the Chillagoe limestones as 
nodules. 
107. Jasper. 


Common all over the sandstone district, Chillagoe, 
and in the conglomerate of Herberton series. 
108. Petrified Wood. 
Common in the Deep Lead, Herberton locality. 


109. Opan.— 
110. Common Opal. 

Found in Deep Lead. 
F111. Noble Opal. 


In the vicinity of Elizabeth Creek, a tributary of 
the Walsh River. 
#12, Wood Opal. 
Many of the fossil trees of the Deep Lead are 
converted into wood opal. 


DIVISION 3.—SECTION 2. 
Silicates, or ordinary rock forming minerals. 
113. Frispars.— 


114. Sanidine. 
In the Elvan at Watsonville. 
115. Albite. 
In Trap Rock at the Gorge, Flaggy Creek. 
216. Oligoclase. 
In the syenitic granite at Dargalong. 
117. Apophyllite. 
In the basalt, Evelyn Run, and the Jump Up, 
Herberton Road. 
118. Plagioclase. 


The old Lottery Claim, Herberton. 
Coolgarra and Calcifer. 


62 LIST OF MINERALS. 


Reference No. 
119. Orthoclase. 


In the porphyry, near Oakey Creek. 

Pink crystals in the granite of the Great 
Northern Mine, and the Old Welcome Claim, 
Herberton. 

In the porphyritic granite near Muldiva. 

It is common in the granites and porphyries of 


district. 
120. Micas.— 
121. Muscovite—White mica. 
Plates have been obtained at Brookland’s Station, 
seven inches square. 
Wandoo Creek, West Chillagoe, Tate Tin Mines. 
Coolgarra. 
Watsonville, and generally throughout Chillagoe. 
122. Biotite—Black mica. 
In the granite of the Great Northern, Herberton. 
In pegmatite at the Tate, and between Bismarck 
and Granite Creeks, Chillagoe, and at Baker’s 
Camp. 
123. Lepidolite. 


In Greisen rock at Mt. Borunda, Tate. 
124. HornsLENDE—AMPHIBOLE.— 
125. Common. 
The Great Northern, St: Patrick and Monarch, 
Herberton ; Oakey Creek, Bakerville, and many 
places throughout the district. 


126. Tremolite. 
Coolgarra. 
Some beautiful specimens of the gray and white 
varieties have been obtained from the Paisley 
Mine, Muldiva. 
127. Actinolite. 
Good specimens at Calcifer; Macrossan Lease, 
Chillagoe ; and “‘ Eclipse ’’ Claim, Muldiva. 
128. AveiTE.— 
129. Common. 
‘Big Ben,’’ Herberton. 
Wild River Valley. 


BY J. STEWART BERGE, ETC. 63 


Reference No. 


130. 


131. 


132. 
133. 


134. 


135. 


136. 


137. 


138. 
139. 


140. 


141. 


142. 


148. 


Bronzite. 
Between Tate and Lynd Rivers. 
Diallage. 
Macrossan and Boomerang Leases, Chillagoe. 
Calcifer and Herberton. 
Hypersthene. 
Between Tate and Lynd Rivers. 
ABESTOS.— 
At Dargalong. 
OLIvINE.— 
In the basalt of the Deep Lead, near Herberton, 
occasionally in fine crystals, and at Lake 
Kacham. 
Chrysolite. 
Fair crystals in the basalt at the Russell Goldfield. 
TouRMALINE.— 


Found in radiated crystals in the porphyry at the 
‘‘ Baal Gammon,” Watsonville. 

Around Calcifer, forming tourmaline rock asso- 
ciated with eclogyte. 

Bakerville and Irvinebank, with tin. 

SpHENE—TIrTaniITE.— 
Occurs in the granite rock in the locality of the 
Tate. 
STAUROLITE.— 
Occurs in the mica schist throughout Chillagoe. 
ZEOLITES.— 
Several varities are found among which are :— 
Natrolite which occurs in the centres of the Basalt, 
at the Deep Lead, Herberton ; and another variety 
found at Muldiva. 
CHLORITE.— 

Common among the serpentinous rocks, which 
are plentiful around Herberton as an altered 
form of diorite. 

Newellton, Watsonville, Irvinebank, etc. 

Penninite (chlorite in part). 
Coolgarra. 
Viridite (undeterminable chlorite ). 
Common especially in the tin lodes of district. 


64 LIST OF MINERALS. 


Reference No. 
144. Kaouinirre.—Silicate of Alumina. 


Watsonville. 
‘St. Patrick,’’ Herberton, 
Paisley, Muldiva, 
Mount Garnet, and in the granite and porphyry 
regions throughout area. 
145. Tatc.—Silicate of Magnesia. 
Orient and Wheal Vohr Claims, Herberton, Wat- 
sonville, and Dargalong. 
146. Steatite. 
Good Friday and North Australian at Watsonville. 
It occurs as a constituent of the copper and tin 
lodes, and is not uncommon. 
147. Serpentine—AHydrous Magnesium Silicate-— 
In the decomposed gangue, “ Iolanthe,”’ Irvine- 
bank. 
Watsonville. 
Chillagoe. 
Plentiful around Herberton as an altered form of 
diorite. 
148. Fibrous Serpentine. 
Is found in the ‘‘ Great Northern,’’ Herberton. 


DIVISION 3.—SECTION 3. 
Other rock forming minerals. 


. 


149. Limestone.— 

Occurs in large deposits in many parts of the 
district, principally in the vicinity of Mount 
Garnet and throughout Chillagoe. 

150. Calcite—Carbonate of Lime. 

Plentiful all over the limestone region, some of 
the localities being Muldiva, Newellton, Mun- 
garra, Koorboora. In the two last mentioned 
places the whole mass of limestone where in 
contact with the granite is converted into 
magnificent rhombs of this mineral, often 
showing a remarkable crypto — cleavage 
structure. 


BY JOHN SHIRLEY, B.SC. 73 


some types of malaria from the so called ‘‘ Crescent Body,” in 
others from large extra-corpuscular plasmodia. They are only 
seen after blood has been drawn and oxygenated. 


CRESCENT BODIES. 


These are shaped something like caraway seeds, are trans- 
parent, with melanin bodies about their central zone, and are 
partly clothed with the remains of the blood corpuscles in which 
they developed. The crescents are usually uniform in appear- 
ance, twin crescents rarely occur. Mannaberg’s suggestion that 
the crescents are formed bythe conjugation of two ordinary 
plasmodia is the most likely one. 


The crescent body is the parent of the flagellated body, 
and the gradual change from one to the other may be readily 
followed. The crescent becomes an oval, then a sphere, the 
pigment bodies form a sphere within a sphere, then they begin 
to dance about, finally the flagella shoot out from the periphery 
and the flagellated body is complete. 

Ross has shown that when blood drawn from the human 
subject is kept from the air no flagellated bodies are formed. 
On the other hand exposure to the air, or the addition of water 
to the slide favours flagellation. 


FUNCTION OF FLAGELLATED BODY. 


From the fact that the flagellated body does not enter into 
existence until the blood has left the vessels, it is evident that 
the function of the flagellum must lie outside the human body— 
in fact, that the ftagellated body constitutes the first phase of 
the extra-corporeal life of the plasmodium. 


THE MOSQUITO. 

As the plasmodium while in the circulation is always 

enclosed in a blood corpuscle, and is therefore incapable of leaving 

the body by its own efforts, it must be removed by some suctorial 
insect common in the haunts of malaria. 


Surgeon-Major Ross has shown that the crescents ingested 
by mosquitoes, fed on malarial blood, become transformed into 
spheres, and then into flagellated bodies. It is now known that 
these flagella detach themselves and coalesce with other non- 
flagellated bodies, which then become endowed with locomotive 
powers, and penetrate through the wall of the stomach of the 
mosquito, embedding themselves among the muscular fibres 


74 MOSQUITOES AND MALARIA. 


lining it outwardly. They may be seen like minute pustules 
from the inner surface. When one of these fertilised bodies is 
pressed on a glass slide, myriads of so called germinal rods are 
seen. These are seldom found free in the stomach of the 
mosquito, but may be found in countless numbers in the 
peculiar veneno-salivary glands connected with the proboscis. 
These glands, two in number, consist of a number of plump, 
clearly-defined cells, arranged along a branching duct; in these 
cells the germinal rods may be found in countless numbers, 
and when the mosquito is feeding on human blood these rods, 
which are really spores, are passed into the circulation and 
give rise to the plasmodia. 


A REPLY TO “SOME CRITICAL NOTES ON THE 
QUEENSLAND VOLUME OF THE INTER: 
NATIONAL CATALOGUE OF 
SCIENTIFIC LITERATURE.” 


BY JOHN SHIRLEY, B.Sc. 
Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, August 19th, 1899. 


Eacu member of this Society has received a copy of the Queens- 
land Volume of the International Science Catalogue, compiled 
by the Royal Society of Queensland at the request of the late 
Hon. T. J. Byrnes, and of his successor, the Hon. J. R. Dickson. 
Copies were also sent to the chief scientific societies of Austra- 
lasia. On receipt of a copy by the Queensland Branch of the 
Royal Geographical Society of Australasia, the Hon. Secretary, 
Mr. J. P. Thomson, read a criticism on the Catalogue, since 
printed without date or signature, to which your Council has re- 
quested me to reply. 


This is not Mr. Thomson’s first attack on matters pertain- 
ing to our Society ; in Volume XII, pp. 59 to 71 of our Pro- 
ceedings may be found Mr. (now Dr.) R. L. Jack’s crushing 
reply to Mr. Thomson’s remarks on the Government Geologist’s 
paper entitled ‘‘ Artesian Water in the Western Interior of 
Queensland.” 


76 A REPLY TO ‘SOME CRITICAL NOTES, ETC.”’ 


In his criticism of the Catalogue Mr. Thomson’s statements 
prove: 


1. That he failed to ascertain beforehand what reasons led 
to the compilation of the Catalogue ; and 


2. That he is wholly unacquainted with the printed direc- 
tions issued by the International Conference, by which 
the arrangement and classification of the work criti- 
cised were determined. 


Mr. Thomson’s principal charges are printed in italics, and 
following each will be found my reply. 


I. P. 2, lines 9-15 and 27. 


‘© T had to collect, arrange, and classify the material without a 
colleague.” This not altogether unambitious statement is, 
however, scarcely consistent with a subsequent remark, in 
which our bibliographer acknowledges the services of three 
well known authorities, who revised, arranged and 
classified the chemistry sections, the vertebrates, and the 
Lepidoptera. The preface discloses an error. 


As a matter of fact the whole of the subject matter of the 
Catalogue was collected, arranged, and classified before any por- 
tion was submitted to the three gentlemen, whose assistance is 
gratefully acknowledged in the preface. Professor Liversidge 
read and corrected the final proof of the Chemistry section form- 
ing pp. 48-51. Mr. De Vis supplied the class names given in 
brackets after each new species named by Mr. Saville Kent or 
by himself. Mr. Tryon read the two last proofs in pages of 
Section 2435, Lepidoptera, and suggested several valuable 
‘improvements affecting the classification of species adopted 
by the authors themselves. There is therefore no error to 
disclose. 


L.. Ps 2), mes ea 7-29: 
The second entry on the first page of the Catalogue of Authors 
reveals a stupid omission of the title of a work. 
It may be some satisfaction to Mr. Thomson to know that, 
notwithstanding his evident animus, this is the only error in the 


Catalogue which he is able to substantiate in his criticism of 
twelve printed pages. 


BY JOHN SHIRLEY, B.SC. 77 


TIT. P. 8, lines 13-14. 

The preface of the work is in itself tnadequate. 

The catalogue was compiled for the use of the International 
Conference at London, for whom no explanation was necessary ; 
from this body came the first application, through the Agent- 
General, to the Premier for assistance in the matter ; but a short 
preface was written to advise members of the Royal Society and 
others of the causes which led to its production. 

IV. P. 3, lines 33-35. 

Only two (of the resolutions ) have been published in full in the 
Queensland volume, by Mr. Shirley, and these, strange to 
say, have really no material bearing on the character of 
the cataloque. 

As the material for the Queensland Catalogue was collected 
by request of the International Conference, and for their use, it 
was hardly necessary to quote to them their rules in full, but 
those rules were quoted which showed that there was a discre- 
tionary power to be exercised in the selection of material. 

V. P. 3, lines 35-37 ; p. 4, lines 1-16, 25-28. 

Three of the most important ones of all have not been yiven. 

They are as follows :— 

“That the Catalogue shall comprise all published original 
contributions to the branches of science hereafter mentioned, 
whether appearing in periodicals, or in publications of 
Societies, or as independent pamphlets, memoirs, or 
books.” 

“* That in judging whether a publication is to be considered as 
a contribution to science suitable for entry in the catalogue, 
regard shall be had as to its contents, trrespective of the 
channel through which it is published.” 

“* That a contribution to science for the purpose of the catalogue 
be considered to mean a contribution to the Mathematical, 
Physical or Natural Sciences, just as, for evample, 
Mathematics, Astronomy, Physics, Chemistry, Mineralogy, 
Geology, Botany, Mathematical and Physical Geography, 
Zoology, Anatomy, Psychology and Anthropology, to the 
exclusion of what are sometimes called the applied 
sciences—the limits of the several sciences to be determined 
hereafter.” 


78 A REPLY TO ‘‘ SOME CRITICAL NOTES, ETC.” 


As ua matter of fact, there is not a word about ** research work” 
in this resolution at all, the words being simply UNNECES- 
sarily used by Mr. Shirley jor reasons best known to 
himself. 

In the rule first quoted by Mr. Thomson, the words 
‘original contribution ’’ form a term well understood in scientific 
societies as meaning a distinct discovery, adding some item or 
items to the sum total of scientific knowledge ; and the words 
‘‘ research work ’’ merely paraphrase this term. Mr. Thomson 
has wholly misunderstood this first rule, which plainly debars all 
extracts, summaries, and popular lectures from a place in the 
catalogue. 

The second rule quoted by him clearly proves that a selec- 
tion as to quality must be made. 

VI. PD. 4, lines 37-39. 

“ All productions that do not contain original or research 

work” have not been ruled out by a long way. 

(a.) ‘ Contributions to the Bibliography of Gold.” 

This was written by Professor Liversidge as an appendix to 
the ‘‘ Bibliography of Gold,’’ published in Locke’s Gold (London, 
1882), a standard work ; it had been accepted and printed by the 
Australasian Association. . 

(b.) Narrative of an Ewploration of the Coen. 


T am still of opinion that Captain Pennefather’s notes as 
supplied by him to Major Boyd are worthy of an entry. 

(c./ In the Barly Days. 

This is really a history of the colony as rescued from con- 
temporary records, and the valuable information supplied was 
judged to deserve mention. 

(d.) Life among the Afghans. 

Mr. Thomson conceals the facts that on p. 22 there is 
printed in brackets (Communicated by), and on p. 62 it is dis- 
tinctly shown to be Dr. Gray’s. 

fe.) Queensland Past and Present. 

_ A statistical record of the material position and progress of 
the colony, with the‘Government impress, stands on a different 
level to a private production. As the work is published annually, 
the last volume is the only one that needs mention. On receipt 
of a copy of this work from Mr. Weedon, Mr. Thomson wrote 


BY JOHN SHIRLEY, B.SC. 79 


as follows:——‘‘I must thank you very cordially for your 
thoughtfulness in sending me a copy of your splendid work on 
‘Queensland, Past and Present,’ a gift which I value most 
highly. It is a book for which you deserve the greatest praise.” 

(f.) Geographic History of Queensland. 

There is original matter in Mr. Meston’s ‘‘ Geographic 
History,” and the work deserves mention on that account, as 
also for its interesting historical information concerning geo- 
graphical nomenclature in Queensland. 

(y.) Synopsis of the Flora of Queensland. 

Mr. Bailey, in his preface, and in the introductions to 
various classes of plants, acknowledges his indebtedness to other 
authors, especially to the late Baron F. v. Mueller; but there 
are slight additions of original matter on pp. 686, 694, 708, 
714, 809, and 811; and the ‘“‘ Synopsis”’ is the foundation stone 
of all subsequent work of our worthy Colonial Botanist. 

(h.) Supplements to the Flora of Queensland. 

Following these entries in the catalogue, in each case, there 
will be found lists of new plants named and described by Mr. 
Bailey, which form his “original contribution.” See pp. 133-4. 

(ei PB. 7, lines 5-8. 

On the first four pages there occur about a dozen entries of mere 
meteoroloyical maps, whilst similar cartoyraphical con- 
tributions crop up on pages 10, 12, and 13, in the shape 
of geological maps. 

Had Mr. Thomson referred to these maps he would have 
found that the notes accompanying them form a valuable 
addition to our scientific literature ; and a study of the specimen 
catalogue supplied by the International Conference would have 
shown that charts and daily weather reports are asked for under 
Meteorology, and maps under Geology. 


VIII. and LX. P. 7, lines 36 and 37, and pp. § and 9. 
Tt would indeed be-safe to say that not more than a half of the 
scientific literature of the colony has been included, 

In proof of this statement, Mr. Thomson quotes 23 works, 
which would at most add two pages to.a catalogue of 154 pp. 

These works were weighed and found wanting. They may 
have been excellent as extracts, or summaries, or popular 
lectures, but they merely traversed well trodden. ground. To 
show that papers by members of the Royal Society of Queensland 


80 


A REPLY TO ‘‘ SOME CRITICAL NOTES, ETC.” 


have been no less freely excluded, the following papers, 
from the first five of the fourteen volumes published by the 
Society, will be found omitted from the Catalogue : 


23. 


. Inaugural Address, Vol. I., pp. 3-7. 

. Mesoplodon Layardi, Vol. I., pp. 58-59. 

. Sesbania—a native fibre-producer, Vol. I., p. 101. 

. Fasciation in Sicyos angulata, Linn., Vol. L., p. 102. 

. Summer Heat v. Health, Vol. L., p. 173. 

. Presidental Address, Vol., II., pp. 67-76. 

. Practical Hybridization, Vol. II., p. 141. 

. The Establishment of a Geological Survey in Queens- 


land, Vol. II., pp. 198-207. 


. Artesian Wells v. Water Supply, Vol. II., pp. 208-209. 
. On the Curative Properties of the Cunjevoi, Vol. IL., 


pp. 211-213. 


. Notes on a Living Tree Stump, Vol. III., pp. 38-39. 

. Presidental Address, Vol. III., pp. 116-119. 

. Indelible Writing Inks, Vol. IIL., pp. 144-150. 

. Fasciation of Bouvardia triphylla, Vol. III., pp. 


158-154. 


. On Native Zinc in Queensland, Vol. III., pp. 154-155. 
. Report of a Meeting called to Promote the Formation of 


an Australasian Association, Vol. III., pp. 159-165. 


. A Bee Parasite, Vol. IV., pp. 17-19. 
. President’s Address, Vol. IV., pp. 94-96. 
. The First Discovery of Gold in Queensland, Vol. IV., 


pp. 114-118. 


. Gold Occurrence in Queensland, Vol. IV., pp. 124-128 
. An account of the chief objects of Botanical Interest in 


an excursion to Peechey’s Scrub, Vol. IV., pp. 185-136. 


. Report of the Field Naturalists’ Section &c., Vol. V., 


pp. 70-72. 
Field Naturalists’ Excursion to Caboolture, Vol. LV., pp. 
187-142. 


XY. P. 10 lines 26-29. 


We 


In 


find, for example, some of Mr. Shirley’s own contributions 
entered say on p. 24, Paleontology, to reappear in other 
sections, for instance, botany. p 36. 

the explanatory notes accompanying the specimen 


schedules of the botanical section, it is expressly directed that 


BY J. STEWART BERGE, ETC. 65 


Reference No. 
150a. In the Chillagoe Caves every possible variety can 
be found, except Iceland Spar, and in some 
places, as at Red Hills, the calcite is almost 
pure enough to be called Iceland Spar. 
Varieties of calcite found at Chillagoe, are :— 


151. Dog tooth spar. 
152. Satin spar. 

158. Granular limestone. 
154. Compact limestone. 
155. Stalactite. 

156. Stalaynuite. 


157. Frvorire. 
Occurs at Girofla. Newellton, Herberton, Baker- 
ville, Eureka Creek, and Dargalong. It is not 
as conimon as might be expected. 
158. AraGoniTE.— 

Common through the alteration of calcite rhombs, 

Chillagoe, Newellton, ete. 
159. Dotomrte.— 

California Creek. 

Some of the Chillagoe limestone seems to be 
sufficiently impregnated with magnesia to 
become dolormite. 

160. Gypsum—Lime sulphate. 

Not uncommon in the Chillagoe district, the more 
frequent crystals being twin forms of selenite, 
due to secondary decomposition. 

Varieties of gypsum found are :— 


Fluorspar—Fluoride of calcium. 


161. Alabaster, 
162. Selenite, 

163. Plumose, and 
164. Fibrous. 


ScHEELITE (see Tungsten). 
165. ANHYDRITE 
Found with gypsum. 
166. Apatite—Calcium Phosphate. 
Occurs in the granite rocks of the district in 
microscopic quantities. 
Another variety occasionally occurs as eftlores- 
cences at Wandoo Creek, Chillagoe. 


Lydrous lime sulphate. 


66 LIST OF MINERALS. 


Reference No. 


167. Baryres.-— 


168. Barite—Heary Spar—Barium Sulphate. 
Tate, Dargalong and near Girofla. It is very 
scarce. 


169. SutpHur.— 
Occurs as a secondary product in many of the 
silver ores found around Chillagoe, &c. 
N.B.—There are other rock forming minerals, 
such as garnet, spinel, &c., the former being a 
constituent of the garnet rock found around 
Chillagoe, but for these, see Division 4 following. 


DIVISION 4. 


170. Precious Stones.— 


7h. Sapphire (Blue). 

Jordon Creek. 
172: Sapphire (Green). 

The Oriental emerald—Jordon Creek. 
173. Spinel. 


Jordon Creek, Nigger Creek, Californian Creek, 
and Tate River. 


174. Fleonaste (Black Variety). 
Jordon Creek and Tate River. 

176. ZUVCON. 

Jordon Creek and Tate River. 

176. Jargon (Colorless). 
Jordon Creek. 

Lie Topaz (Yellow) in short prisms. 
California Creek. 

178. Topaz (White) Nigger Creek and Coolgaera. 

Tourmaline (see No. 186). 

179. (rarnet (Red), 

180. Garnet Pyrope, 

181. Garnet Andradite. 


Present in nearly all tin gravels at Calcifer, some- 
times a constituent of Garnet rock. 

The . pale-greenish white garnet, the essential 
garnet of eclogyte, which is the ore bearing rock 
of Chillagoe. 

Amethyst (see No. 97). 


BY J. STEWART BERGE, ETC. 67 


Reference No. 
Opal (see No. 109). 
Sphene (see No. 137). 


DIVISION 5. 
182. Orcanic Propucts.— 
183. Graphite or Plumbago.—In the vicinity of Watson- 
ville and Thornborough. 
More or less common throughout the district as 
slickensides on the sides of lodes. 
184. Lignite or Brown Coal. 
Good specimens have been obtained from the 
Russell Goldfield. 
185. Bitumen.—Hodgkinson Goldfield. 


Index to List of Minerals, Walsh and Tinaroo 
Mining District. 


Name. Reference No. Name. Reference No. 
Actinolite 0 a6 eur Barysilite AG eo. als! 
Agate .. 06 ee LOS Biotite .. ob oy l22 
Alabaster or ao All Bismuth (Native) .. a0 5 
Albite .. ae Siren E13) Bismuthite aie Ro eure st 
Alumina St Bg (eB) Bitumen.. oo Se alist) 
Aluminite Bc SZ Bornite .. Bc oo lis 
Aluminium ate ao telll Boron ae sa ett) 
Amethyst oie on | ei Bournonite ais do 2h 
Amphibole 56 -. 124 Bronzite. . Te -. 130 
Andradite 50 en alten Calamine su a aun 
Anglesite (Lead Sulp.) S50) Lal Calcite. .. ee ao Alsi) 
Anhydrite fe Me VhG6S Calcium... xe So.) Bi 
Antimony Ores .. .. 48-9 Carnelian ae aelOs 
Apatite, -.. Oe =e 166 Cassiterite (Tin Ore) heer 4G 
Apophyllite iGe eta tn Ey Cerargyrite (Horn Silver) .. 12 
Argentite 5D ays 8 Cerussite (Lead Carb.) Thee scstl 
Arsenic (Native) ... oye 6 Cervantite (Antimony Oxide) 49 

=, Ores oS .. 65-7 Chaleanthite ... a Pal 

- Arsenolite Thy ost ne 67 Chalcedony 5 ta an OZ 
Arseno-pyrite of se. Mod Chalcocite oe onl EA 
Atacamite 50 Lede Chalcopyrite ac an neds 
Augite .. = See Seel28 Chert -... oars va 106 
Azurite .. ios Re 24 Chlorite... ae sa il25l 
Barite .. ab no Altos) Chrysolite He cal) des: 
Barium .. Pilea so | Oil Chrysocolla ain ee §6.26 


Barytes .. sete an) AST) Cinnabar pears hal, 29 


68 INDEX—Continued. 


Name. Reference No. 
Cobalt 44 
Columbite 60 
Copper, Native 3 
»  Pyrites 13 
» Glance 3 14 
»  Pyrites (oarerated) 15 
yy ©6(Gray 16 
,  Oxichloride 17 
,, Red Oxide 2 8 
,, Black Oxide ai ee 
» Sulphate .. Sy! 
» Arsenate .. 22 
,, Green Carbonate 23 
» Blue Fs 24 
» silicate 25 
,,  Hydrous Silicate 26 
,, Phosphate 28 
Cuprite .. - 18 
Diallage .. 131 
Dioptase.. 25 
Dolomite 159 
Epsomite 85 
Erubescite 15 
Fahlerz . 16 
Gatepare. - 113 
Flourite—Flourspar 157 
Galena .. 30 
Garnet 179 
Gold 1 
Goslarite 41 
Gotheite 61 
Graphite (7) 183 
Gypsum .. a0 160 
5, Plumose 163 
» . Fibrous «. wa, L64 
Heavy Spar 168 
Haematite 5 - aie) ‘hele 
Hornblende ae ee 124 
a Common 125 
Horn Silver ss jeer ley 
Hypersthene -- 182 
Iceland Spar a5 -- 1504 
Ilmenite.. ac 57 
Iron Pyrites s- Se etl 
ar » (White) Ste Gy 
3 », Magnetic 53 
s Specular 55 
» Magnetic .. 56 


Name. 
Iron Titanic 
,,  Vitriol 


,, Phosphate 


,, Carbonate 
Jargon 
Jasper 
Kaolinite 
Lead Sulphide 
», Sulphate 
», Oxide 


», Molybdate . 


5, Sulphide ee) Cupid 34 


;, Arsenate 


s, Phosphate .. 


5, Carbonate 
Silicate 

Lepidolite 
Lignite 
Limestone 
Limonite 
Lithium .. 
Linarite .. 
Magnesite 
Magnesium 
Magnetite 
Malachite 
Manganese 
Marcasite 
Melaconite 
Melanterite 
Menaccanite 
Mercury .. 
Mica 
Milky Quartz 
Minetite.. 
Minium .. 
Mispickel 
Molybdenum 
Molybdenite 
Muscovite 
Natrolite.. 
Nickel 
Niobite .. 
Oligoclase 
Olivine .. 
Olivenite 
Opal ee 

» Noble 


Reference No. 
57 

58 

62 

64 

176 

107 

144 


-. iff 


Name. 

Opal Common 

,, Wood 
Organic Products.. 
Orthoclase 
Orpiment Sic 
Penninite 
Petrified Wood 
Plagioclase 
Platinum 
Pleonaste Be 
Plumbago 
Potassium 
Prase 
Precious Stones 
Proustite 
Psilomelane 
Pyrargyrite 
Pyrite 
Pyrolusite 
Pyromorphite 
Pyrope 
Pyrrhotite 
Quartz .. oe 

» Varieties 
Realgar .. 
Redruthite 
Rock Crystals 
Rose Quartz 52 
Rutile 
Ruby Silver 
Sanidine 
Sapphire, Blue 

re Green . 
Sard 
Scheelite 
Scorodite 
Selenite .. 
Selenium 
Serpentine 

Be Fibrous 

Siderite .. 
Silicas 
Silver, Native 

» Glance 


INDE X— Continued. 


Reference No. 


110 
112 
182 
119 

65 


ae ROE 
95, etc. 
66 

See Copper 
95 

sn, oy) 
as oO 
See Silver 
114 

aya 

172 

104 

76 

62 

162 

79 


Name. 
Silver Ruby 
Horn 
Smithsonite 
Smoky Quartz 
Sodium .. 


5 Chlorite 


Sphalerite 
Sphene .. 
Spinel 
Stannite 
Stalactite 
Stalagmite 
Staurolite 
Steatite .. 
Stephanite 
Stibnite .. 
Strontium 
Sulphur 
Tale 
Tetrahedrite 
Tile Ore.. 
Titanite .. 
Titanium 
Tin Ore .. 
Torbernite 
Topaz 

» False 
Tourmaline 
Tremolite 
Tungsten 
Uranium 
Viridite . 
Vivianite 
Wad 
Willemite 
Wolfram 
Wulfenite 
Zeolite 
Zine, Sulphide 


», Hy. Silicate.. 


» Sulphate 

», Silicate 

,, Carbonate 
Zircon 


69 


Reference No. 


9 
12 
Be) ae: 


MOSQUITOES AND MALARIA. 


By JOHN SHIRLEY, B.Sc. 
Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, June 17, 1899. 


CAUSE OF FEVER. 

In the blood of malarial fever patients is always found an 
organism, discovered by Laveran in 1810, and consequently 
known as the plasmodium malaria. 


THREE STAGES. 

This organism is found to exhibit three phases, one 
adapted for life with man as its host, a second adapted for life 
outside the human body, and probably a third or latent stage. 


HUMAN CYCLE. 

Every variety or species of the plasmodium inhabiting man 
has its special and more or less definite life span of 24 hours, 
of 48 hours, or of 72 hours. On examining malarial blood 
towards the end of one of these cycles, before one of the 
paroxysms of the characteristic periodic fever is induced, the 
parasite may be recognised as a pale ill-defined disc of proto- 
plasm, occupying a larger or a smaller area, within a proportion 
of the red blood corpuscles. Scattered through this pale body 
are a number of particles of intensely black, or reddish black 
pigment—melanin. 

On repeated examination at short serial intervals the 
observer notes a systematic series of changes in the discs of 
pigmented protoplasm. 

1. The scattered pigment particles collect into little groups, 
or into radiating lines ; 

2. The pigment groups concentrate further into one or two 
larger, more or less, central blocks ; 

8. Around these central masses the protoplasm groups 
itself as globular masses, i.e. spores'; 


72 MOSQUITOES AND MALARIA, 


4. The blood corpuscle breaks up and the spores enter 
the liquor sanguinis ; 

5. Such spores as escape the phagocytes attach themselves 
to red corpuscles and enter them ; 

6. In the interior of the corpuscle the plasmodium exhibits 
‘mceboid movements, and grows at the expense of the 
hemoglobin ; 

7. By assimilation they convert the hemoglobin into the 
pale substance of: the plasmodium and into melanin ; 

8. Finally, just before sporulation all motion ceases. 


STRUCTURE. 


On staining, the plasmodial spore is found to consist of a 
minute, deeply tinted nucleolus, surrounded by an unstained 
vesicular nucleus, and this again by a covering of protoplasm. 
As the parasite grows and approaches maturity the nucleolus 
disperses, and the vesicular nucleus becomes less distinct, finally 
just before sporulation both nucleus and nucleolus cease to be 
distinguishable. 


MELANIN. 


The melanin particles occur either in dust-like specks, in 
coarse grains, in short rods, or aggregated into dense clumps. 


LATENT PHASE. 


Concurrently with the subsidence of acute clinical symptoms, 
the plasmodium may disappear from the general circulation and 
pass into a latent stage. This it does either spontaneously 
or as the result of the action of quinine. The exact conditions 
which cause latency are not known. 


EXTRA CORPOREAL CYCLE——-FLAGELLATED BODIES. 


When fresh malarial blood is examined under the micro- 
scope, strange octopus-like creatures, the flagellated bodies 
appear; like the ordinary parasite they are of colourless proto- 
plasm, with melanin granules, but they are furnished with one 
to six whip-like arms, termed flagella. These arms, three or 
four times as long as a blood corpuscle is broad, move with the 
greatest rapidity, and they double up and distort the blood 
corpuscles by their blows. Occasionally the flagella break away 
and swim about freely. 

Careful observation shows that the flagellated bodies are 
developed from two forms of the extra-corpuscular parasite—in 


BY JOHN SHIRLEY, B.SC. 81 


all references to fossil plants must be catalogued under both 
Botany and Palzontology; similarly, all references to fossil 
animals must be given under both Zoology and Paleontology. 
Mr. Thomson would have been wiser had he studied the printed 
directions by which the auther was guided, before he so hastily 
formulated his ill-based charges. 

AT. P. It lines 2-7. 

Some of the entries in the second section show all too plainly 
the leaning sympathy of the compiler, especially in the 
Paleontological and Botanical divisions, being overloaded 
with details, recounting numerous species, sub-species and 
types familiar to the author. 


In this instance Mr. Thomson again proves that he has not 
taken the trouble to refer to the specimen catalogues supplied from 
London, which formed the model for the construction of the 
Queensland volume. Any unbiased critic who compares the 
two will see that the copy has been rigidly and faithfully 
followed. 

ATT. P. 11, lines 10-14. 

The second part of the catalogue shows haste and inexperience 
in bibliographic compilation. Here the entries, supposed 
to be arranged according to the subjects, reappear in the 
order of authors up to p. 76, where the proper arrange- 
ments only begins, and ts carried to the end of p. 132. 

Mr. Thomson is again wrong in his contention. The rule 
followed in the specimen subject-catalogues for Physics, 
Mathematics, Anthropology, &c., is to arrange each sub-section 
alphabetically under authors ; but in Botany and Zoology, with 
their scientific names, the titles and not the authors’ names are 
in alphabetical sequence. 

XITT, P. 11, lines 28-38. 

Many valuable and original literary contributions to science 
have been published from time to time in most of our local 
periodicals. According to the resolutions of the conference 
these should have been listed. 

Mr. Thomson is wrong in supposing that a newspaper is a 
periodical in terms of the second rule given by him on p. 4 of 
his ‘‘ Critical Notes.’’ Newspaper articles such as he mentions 
are never acknowledged as authorities or quoted as such by 


scientific journals. 
F 


'\ a 


ON A METHOD BY WHICH A PURE WATER- 
SUPPLY COULD BE OBTAINED 
FOR BRISABNE., 


By THOS. L. BANCROFT, M.B., Edin. 
[Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 19th August, 1899.] 


Ir the Enoggera water be analysed, it will be found to be free 
from inorganic matter with the exception of a very small 
amount of common salt, [In March last, after a considerable 
spell of dry weather, there was only 1.2 grains Chlorine to the 
gallon.] but to contain an enormous amount of organic 
impurity. 

In March, I made an analysis to ascertain the amount of 
organic matter, with the following result :— 


Free Ammonia ‘00 ) 
Albuminoid Ammonia -24_ } 

A water containing ‘10 parts per million is generally con- 
sidered too impure for consumption until subjected to filtration 
and the amount of Albuminoid Ammonia reduced to -05 parts 
per million. 

Consumption of water containing -20 parts per million of 
Albuminoid Ammonia by a community has been found to bring 
about various conditions of ill health. In England, such a 
water would be condemned as unfit for use, but here in Brisbane, 
we are compelled to consume water of that discription. 


Parts per million. 


How can water be freed from organic impurity ? 

It has been found that this is possible in many instances 
by filtration, but it must be remembered that efficient filtration, 
on a large scale, entails a very serious expense and one that 
Brisbane could scarcely afford at the present time. 


84 METHOD BY WHICH A PURE WATER SUPPLY, ETC. 


I understand that some experiments have been made by the 
Board of Water-works to filter the Enoggera water, but without 
satisfactory results, owing to the excessive amount of organic 
matter quickly choking the filters. 

How does the Enoggera water become contaminated by 
organic matter? It is from the decomposition of Water-lilies 
(Nymphaea gigantea, Hook), Pond-weed (Hydrilla), microscopic 
algv, protozoa, excrement of birds, and from leaves washed by 
rains into the reservoir. The Enoggera water is rich in 
microscopic life, it is this that gives the water a bad odour on 
reaching Brisbane; at the reservior it is free from bad smell; 
whilst in the pipes, in darkness and under pressure, the living 
bodies die, and by the time they reach town are in a state of 
decomposition. 

Water-plants and fish have unfortunately been introduced 
into the Enoggera reservoir ; the plants serve as food for various 
insects ¢.y., the lave of dragon-flies, and also for snails, and 
these again serve as food for ducks and other aquatic birds, also 
for fish; the fish entice cormorants and water-rats, so that the 
reservoir terms with life. Considerable areas are very shallow 
and in these parts, not only do the water-weeds grow luxuri- 
antly, but the water being comparatively still, and much warmer 
than in the deeper portions, microscopic alge grow to profusion. 

The excrement of birds is not to be ignored as a factor 
in contamination although, in the case of Enoggera, owing to 
the great bulk of water, it is a minor one. 

Recently in this district [Deception Bay} after a drought, a 
fresh-water lagoon of about twenty acres in extent, two-thirds 
of which is covered with the large Blue Water-lily, became the 
resort of thousands of water-birds, the excrement of which, 
together with the decomposition of water-lilies, increased the 
impurity from Chlorine 6-0 grains per gallon. 

Free Ammonia ‘00 ) weal 
Albuminoid Ammonia °30 ) Parts por 


to Chlorine 148-0 grains per gallon. 
Free Ammonia *08 ) 
Albuminoid Ammonia 1:00 ) 
The water in this lagoon generally is drinkable, although it 
possesses a very distinct weedy taste ; recently it has become so 
foul as to be little better than sewage. 


Parts per million. 


BY THOS. L. BANCROFT, M.B., EDIN. 85 


In another lagoon, near by, of great depth of water (8 to 

30 feet), no water-weeds grew and no birds congregated, the 
impurity was :— 

Chlorine 2:0 grains per gallon. 

Free Ammonia ‘00 

Albuminoid Ammonia ‘24 
This water gets its organic impurity from the leaves of over- 
hanging trees. 


| Parts per million. 


Now I have observed over and over again, not in Queens- 
land alone, but in various other countries, that water-weeds, 
rooting at the bottom, will not grow in fresh water rivers and 
lakes provided there be no shallow parts, no parts less than six 
feet deep, and I have observed that where there are no water- 
weeds there are no free alge, neither will Duck-weed (Lemna) 
and Azolla grow; the waves soon cast on shore these floating 
plants ; whether the same would apply to the Water Hyacinth is 
doubtful. 

On Stradbrook Island there are several large fresh-water 
lakes with deep water (20 feet) free from water-weeds, fish and 
birds ; the water is practically pure; by preventing the leaves 
from over-hanging trees entering the lakes, the water would 
remain aS pure as rain water in an ordinary galvanised iron 
tank. 


It is true that the large Water-lilies, particularly the yellow 
one (Nuphar lutea H.K.), can grow in water up to ten feet, but 
in order for them to do so, they must be well established in 
shallow water and gradually creep into the deep water ; ten feet 
seems to be about the limit at which they will grow. 


When growing in water ten feet deep the slightest increase 
in depth by rain causes them to die. If well rooted specimens 
be sunk into water over six feet deep they will die, at any rate, 
that is my experience. 


It is manifest then that were a water reservoir constructed 
so that no parts would be less than six feet deep, water-weeds 
would not grow in it. 

The Enoggera reservoir could be made to contain twice the 
quantity of water it now does and the water would be pure. 
Sooner or later the water-supply for Brisbane will have to be 
augmented ; I believe the cheapest and best way to do this would 
be by deepening the Hnoggera reservoir. I suggest that the 


86 METHOD BY WHICH A PURE WATER SUPPLY, ETC. 


Board of Water-works temporarily increase the water-supply 
from other sources than Enoggera so as to be independent of 
the latter and then proceed to reconstruct. 


The method suggested is to cut gradually a trench into the 
by-wash to drain off all the water; to make a wall of rough 
stone and concrete, at least six feet high, round the water’s edge 
and back this with earth dug from the shallow parts of the lake 
so as to make a gradual ascending slope from the top of the wall 
to the hill sides ; otherwise, water would lodge between the wall 
and the hill; plant the bank with Buffalo-grass ; clean out logs, 
stumps, vegetation, and fish; finally, strengthen and raise the 
dam and build up the by-wash. The lake would then hold 
sufficient water for the requirements of Brisbane for some time 
to come ; the water would be pure and every drop available if at 
any time pumping had to be restored to. The other reservoirs 
could then be abandoned until the growth of the city necessitated 
a further increase of water. There should be a space cleared at 
least fifty yards wide, all round the lake, fenced in and planted 
with Buffalo-grass ; the grass should never be cut nor grazed by 
cattle; it would serve to prevent leaves from the adjacent land 
being washed by rain or blown in the reservoir. 


Deception Bay, July 1899. 


DESCRIPTION OF SOME CAVES NEAR 
CAMOOWEKAL. 


By T. P. KEYS. 


[Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, August 19, 1899.) 


Asout twelve miles to the eastward of the township of Camooweal 
the monotonous level of the country is interrupted by the presence 
of a number of irregular chasms, varying in depth from 50 to 120 
feet, and in width from 80 to 100 feet. Leading into most of 
these chasms are water-courses, which in flood-time pour in an 
enormous quantity of water, which disappears as rapidly as it 
enters. Being anxious to solve the problem of the dissappear- 
ance of all this water, I set out one morning in company with a 
few companions, and, having reached our destination, selected a 
cave which seemed suitable for exploration. We had taken care 
to come provided with a supply of ropes and candles, also a 
quantity of kerosene for the purpose of making fire-balls. 
Fastening our rope to a large boulder, we clambered, or rather 
slid, to the bottom at a depth of 105 feet. At this level we 
found a cave opening into the rock, the entrance being about 
30 feet high, but increasing to a height of nearly 50 feet 
as we advanced. After walking some distance our )rogress was 
barred by an enormous rent or hole in the floor. Having suc- 
ceeded in getting round this, we found the cave opened out into 
numerous passages, the largest bearing some resemblance to a 
great cathedral, with pillars of limestone supporting the roof, 
which appears as if chiselled by the hand of man into a sort of 
mosaic work. Some of the side passages contained beautiful 
stalactites, which on being struck, gave out a clear, musical 
note. Retracing our steps to the opening in the floor, we 
fastened on our second rope, and again descended, having first 


88 DESCRIPTION OF SOME CAVES NEAR CAMOOWEAL. 


thrown down a large ball of cotton soaked in kerosene, to test 
the atmosphere and to light us on our way. On reaching the 
second floor, we found several caves which we explored till our 
progress was again stopped by a second hole. After dropping 
fire-balls into this, we made fast another rope and decended, 
reaching a third floor, or rather platform, of considerable size. 
Looking over the edge of this platform, we could discern below 
at the distance of about 40 feet a considerable body of water. 
Determining to examine this, I had a rope fastened round my 
waist and was let down by the others—I found the water 
beautifully clear, cool, and pure; but had no means of testing 
its depth, or its exact temperature. Further progress being 
impossible we retraced our steps, and having reached the surface 
and the light of day, we found, by measurement of our ropes, 
that the surface of this subterranean lake is about 800 feet below 
the level of the plain. We also estimated that the distance 
which we had penetrated horizontally into the bowels of the 
earth could not have been far short of a quarter of a mile. The 
floors of the caves were free from rubbish of any kind, and the 
atmosphere was tolerably pure throughout. 


In connection with this subject, it is, 1 think, worthy of 
note that the Rocklands’ Pastoral Company have put down 
several bores in the neighbourhood of Camooweal which have 
struck water—an inexhaustible supply of sub-artesian water— 
at depths varying from 250 to 300 feet, proving conclusively (in 
connection with the above) that below the surface of this arid 
region there exists a vast reservoir of pure, fresh water of many 
square miles in extent, and at a nearly uniform depth below the 
surface. 


vr 


oe tier ees 


PROG. ROY. SOC: OL; VOL..XV. PLATE 1. 


eS 


F ioc as . i fe ~ 
‘7 y a TE r 
; 2 oh) 
| * ti j 
‘ | 


sy 


V ger 0 


EXPLANATION OF Piate HEPIALUS VIRESCENS. 


Figure 1.—Third abdominal segment showing position of tubercles, spiracle 

and hairs; enlarged; 4x 4 diameters. 

2,.—Ventral aspect of proleg, showing terminal hooks, position of 
four outer hairs and one on inner sides ; much enlarged. 

3.— 6 Genitalia; enlarged; 4 x 4 diameters. 

4.—-Ventral aspect of caput showing antennal base and palpi; 
enlarged; 2 x 2 diameters. 

5.—Neuration of fore and hind wing; natural size. 


A FRAGMENTARY PAPER ON THE LARVAL 
STRUCTURE ETC., OF HEPIALUS? VIRESCENS 
(D'BLD.) OF NEW ZKALAND. 


(Pxrate I.) 


By AMBROSE QUAIL, F E.S. (London.) 


(CommunicateD By R. Iniines.) 


{ Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, November 18, 1899.| 


PropaBty it is well known to you that the Hepialide are a very 
interesting group of the Lepidoptera—from a scientific point of 
view—possessing as they do certain affinities with the 
Trichoptera ; the Hepialide are not without interest from the 
economic point of view also. I shall however, deal with the 
former. 

A note of the distribution, so far as is known to me, may be 
of interest. In Europe there are eight representatives all of the 
genus Hepialus, five of these are British. I have no list from 
America, nor any means of reference, but am acquainted with 
several species. I do not believe them numerous, as recently, 
Professor Dyar stated that not sufficient material has yet been 
studied for the modifications of larval structure to be known 
(Ento Record IX-137). This would hardly be so if the group 
had numerous representatives in America. From Africa I have 
no lists, but there is a fair number of species, and in that 
country the same development of antennal appendages takes 
place—as in Australia—in the imagines. From Asia I have no 
lists, and have no reason to believe the group numerous. I have 
received one species from Ceylon, but there are more. It is in 


90 A FRAGMENTARY PAPER ON THE LARVAL, ETC. 


the Australian region that the group is most numerous. Mr. R. 
Illidge of Brisbane, and other entomologists have kindly 
furnished me with lists. From these I find thirty-one representa- 
tives of the grou: are described. In New Zealand nine 
representatives are described. Of the Australian species, twelve, 
and three doubtful are of the genus Hepialus. In New Zealand 
Hepialus virescens is the only one, the remaining eight being of 
the genus Porina. The Hepialus of Europe are root feeders, 
the ova are black, spherical, and laid loosely amongst the 
herbage. The Porinas of New Zealand are also root 
feeders, ova black, spherical, and laid loosely. I am not 
acquainted with the ova of Hepialus virescens. Hudson states 
they are ‘‘ very small yellowish, round’ (N. Z. Macro Lepi- 
doptera.) Illidge states the ova of the Australian Hepialus 
(Charayia) ‘are a‘pale yellow colour’? when extruded ‘turn 
slaty gray hue”’ afterwards, the larve are internal wood feeders. 
Between the European black ova, root feeding larve, and the 
Australasian yellow-gray ova, wood-feeding larve, there seems 
sufficient distinction to provisionally adopt the name Charagia 
(Walk) for those species associated under the name Hepialus (F.) 
leaving the latter name to the European representatives. This 
is done by Illidge in his paper (‘‘ Proceedings of the Royal 
Society of Queensland,” volume XIV). 


Dr. S. A. Chapman some years since, in a letter to the 
writer expressed the opinion that the true position of the 
Hepialidie and Cosside among the Lepidoptera could be best 
worked out in Australia, but the subterranean and internal feed- 
ing habits of the larve render observation and collection of 
material difficult and uninviting to the general worker. Of the 
N. Z. Porinas I have obtained ova, etc., of four species. The 
larve of H. virescens I have often watched when they 
replaced the damaged cover of their burrow at night, but was 
unable until recently, to procure any of the wood into which 
they burrow. In August the insect is in pupa, but I succeeded 
in obtaining half-grown larve, proving the species occupies at 
least two years in its transformations. Hudson gives no hint as 
to the time so occupied. Lllidge mentions from ‘one to three 
years’’ for the Australian species, and that the larve burrow 
into the tree then, downwards. A specimen of the virescens 
which I examined burrowed into the wood, the burrow being at 


BY AMBROSE QUAIL, F.E.S. (LONDON). aL 


a slightly upward inclination. About half an inch from the 
entrance was another bore, downwards, and again at the end of 
the entrance burrow was another bore, downwards. These two 
bores were 2+ inches long, and from the entrance to extremity of 
the upward burrow 14 inches, altogether 6 inches of boring + 
inch in diameter. The larva was situated in the second bore at the 
extremity of the entrance burrow, and fitted tightly into the 
cavity. 

Turning now to the subject matter of this paper, the larval 
structure. Larva half-grown length 14 inches, shape, tolerably 
uniform, slightly tapering at anus, and two preceeding segments. 
Colour, very like a strip of raw meat; head very dark brown, 
roughly striated; pro-thorax dark red; meso-thorax, red; seg- 
mental swollen areas pale flesh colour; segmental incisions 
deeply incised, composed of several small sub-segments, pinkish 
red in colour; tubercles pale brown, scarcely distinguishable 
from the fleshy swellings apon which they are situated ; 
spiracles, black rimmed; hairs, dark brown; legs, brown; 
prolegs, pinkish. 

The head is flatter in front than the Porinas, more striated, 
and has several fine hairs, the segments much more swollen 
areas, especially dorsally. The positions of the spiracles, of the 
tubercles, and the number of hairs upon them are the important 
features in the larval structure for the purpose of classification. 
Number of segments, 14, including the head. Lateral aspect 
under 1 inch objective. 

Pro-thorax, dorsal plate (scutellum) scarcely distinguishable 
from the fleshy segment. It has three single hairs on the anterior 
edge, and in the middle of the lateral area of the plate is a 
black concavity from within which rises a single hair. Below this 
concavity is a single hair. The lateral edge curves upwards at the 
posterior corner, and the spiracle is situate on the posterior area 
of the segment within the curve of the dorsal plate. A large 
anterior swelling above the leg has two hairs. The legs have 
five hairs at, or above, the joints. 

Meso-thorax consists mainly of two large sub-segments 
(and several small situate in the incision), each bearing one hair 
on the dorso-anterior edge. On the posterior sub-segment is 
another hair below, the middle of the ventral area is swollen 
and has two remote hairs. Below is a large fleshy swelling, 


92 A FRAGMENTARY PAPER ON THE LARVAL, ETC, 


bearing 1 hair, below which is a large tubercle, slightly posterior, 
with one hair. Post thorax corresponds with meso-thorax, and 
the legs on each with pro-thorax, no spiracles. Abdominal 
segments: Ist situate on the large dorsal swollen areas of the 
principal sub-segment are the two dorsal tubercles (anterior 
trapezoidals) one on each side, separated by a thin median line 
along the back. These have one hair. The posterior trapezoidals 
are remote, smaller (more lateral) with one hair on the posterior 
edge of the next sub-segment. Spiracle large, situate about # 
down the anterior sub-segment (from the median line) on the 
anterior edge if not actually on the intersegmental membrane ; 
above the spiracle slightly posterior is a swollen area with a 
tubercle bearing, one long, one short, hairs (supra spiracular 
tubercle); immediately posterior to the spiracle is a large 
swelling bearing two remote hairs; below the spiracle is a large 
swelling bearing one hair, and below this a sub-ventral swelling 
bearing two hairs; 2nd abdominal segment, corresponds with 
Ist except that on the large sub-spiracular swelling are two 
scarcely distinguishable remote tubercles, each with one hair 
(posterior and anterior sub-spiracular tubercles) ; 3rd abdominal 
segments, corresponds with 2nd except there is no sub-yentral 
swelling, the pro-legs having instead four single hairs at the 
base, the 8rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, abdominal segments having pro-legs, 
and correspond in other respects. 7th corresponds with 2nd; 
8th correspond with 7th; 9th has the anterior trapezoidals small 
and more remote than are the posterior trapezoidals, the supra- 
spiracular tubercle is small and has only one hair, the latter and 
three other tubercles (one hair each) are situate one below the 
other on the posterior edge of the segment. 10th has three 
single hairs above the anal fold and the leg has two single hairs 
at base. Ventral aspect under one inch objective. 

Immediately at the base of each leg of the thoracic 
segments on the posterior ridge is a single hair; 1st and 2nd 
abdominal segments have four tubercles each, with one hair 
each, arranged transversely (from side to side of segment) 3rd, 
Ath, 5th, 6th, have one hair at the base of each pro-leg on inner 
side. 7th has two tubercles at either side with one hair each, 
arranged longitudinally. 8th has only the outer most tubercles, 
and an inner hair marking the transverse position (as on 2nd) 
of the tubercles. 9th has two single hairs only. 10th has 
several hairs on inner side of claspers. 


BY AMBROSE QUAIL, F.E.S. (LONDON.) 93 


Pro-legs have a complete encircling row of hooks turned 
outwards, at the extremity. Under a + inch objective the larval 
skin is comparatively smooth, having the very slightest rough- 
ness, and the hairs are smooth. 


In conclusion, I would point out the scientific importance 
of accurate descriptions of the Australian Hepialide. From 
the foregoing I draw special attention to the curious black 
concavity on the scutellum which remains until the pupa stage. 
Its significance is an interesting problem. The hair within is 
evidently articulated, or at any rate is movable at will of the 
larva. Probably all the hairs are so, but I specially noticed it 
with this particular hair. The position of the spiracles, and 
the arrangement of the tubercles on the abdominal segments are 
matters of importance. 


I append a note of the more important imaginal structures. 
The genitalia of g figured for comparison with Australian 
Hepialus, Antenne are simple base figured, palpi are terminated 
by small lobes connected by a narrow neck with main joint. 
These are covered densely with light and dark hair (scales ?) 
Neuration of the wings, one of the most important imaginal 
structural characters for the purpose of classification—note the 
series of transverse nervures at base of wings and the jugum, a 
small projection near base of fore wing on inner margin, this 
only occurs in the Hepialide and Micropterygide among the 
Lepidoptera, but also in the Trichoptera. 


Can I enlist the assistance of Australian entomologists in 
my researches into the structural characters of the Hepialide ? 
I am desirous of obtaining ova and newly hatched larve 
(accurately labled in spirits) for observation and comparison, 
and should be most happy to publish results through the 
Australian societies. 


wre 


PUBLIC ABATTOIRS AND THE PREVENTION OF 
TUBERCULOSIS. 


By HON. W. F. TAYLOR, M.D., M.L.C., D.P.H. 


Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, December 16, 1899. 


I propose to show this evening, as briefly as possible, what 
effect public abattoirs should have in checking the spread of 
disease caused by the tubercle bacillus. Tuberculosis, in its 
different manifestations is all too common among us, and it 
becomes the duty of everyone in a position to do so, to point 
out, if not from his own particular experience, from that of 
others, by what means the disease may be arrested, and its 
ravages mitigated. We have had the subject of tuberculosis 
prominently brought before us at a recent public meeting held 
for the purpose of forming a society to cope with the disease in 
the human being, and a few days ago many of us were 
privileged to hear a lecture, with lantern-slide illustrations, on 
the tubercle bacillus, by Mr. Pond, so that the subject 
has of late been tolerably well ventilated. As you are 
doubtless aware an Act was passed last session—‘‘ The 
Slaughtering Act of 1898,’ giving the Government power to 
construct public abattoirs where it was found to be necessary. 
Section 7 provides that—‘‘The Minister may, out of any 
moneys appropriated by Parliament for the purpose, establish, 
maintain, and manage such, and so many public abattoirs as 
are, in his opinion, necessary for slaughtering stock, and may 
permit the use of the same by all persons upon payment of the 
fees and observing the conditions prescribed by the regulations.”’ 
It is not sought by this Section to compel all those engaged in 


96 PUBLIC ABATTOIRS AND THE PREVENTION, ETC. 


slaughtering to give up their private slaughter-houses, but it is 
proposed to give proper facilities to those who are unable to 
meet the necessary requirements of the Act as to water supply, 
drainage, and other sanitary measures, to carry on their business 
under suitable conditions ; so that should the owner of a private 
slaughter-house be unable to comply with the provisions of the 
Act from the want of a sufficient supply of pure water, 
inadequate drainage, or other causes, he may slaughter his 
stock at the public abattoir for a moderate cost. The Act also 
makes provision for the efficient inspection of slaughter-houses 
by a duly qualified inspector who ‘‘ may at all reasonable times, 
enter, inspect, and examine any slaughter-house or butchers’ 
shop, and may inspect and examine all stock and all utensils, 
machinery, apparatus, works, and things at a slaughter-house or 
butchers’ shop, or used in connection with stock or meat, and all 
places, things and vehicles kept or used for storage, sale, carriage 
or delivery of meat or stock.’’ Section 9 gives the inspector 
power to take action when he finds a slaughter-house or butchers’ 
shop in an unclean state, and when any stock at a slaughter- 
house or elsewhere are diseased, and when any person employed 
in or about the premises is found to be suffering from disease likely 
to contaminate the meat. He may also order a sufficient supply 
of pure and wholesome water in the case of an inadequate 
supply, or when the water is not pure, and he may order any 
vehicle or utensil used for the purpose of carrying meat to be 
cleansed, disinfected, and otherwise rendered wholesome. 

The inspector may order the removal or isolation of any 
person found to be affected with disease after he has satisfied 
himself by ‘‘ reference to the Health Office of the district in 
which the slaughter-house or butchers’ shop is situated, or to 
some duly qualified medical practitioner, that the disease with 
which any person is affected is one or other of the diseases 
mentioned in the second schedule.’’ The inspector therefore 
cannot, of his own authority, order the removal or isolation of 
any person whom he supposes to be suffering from disease, but 
only on the authority of a medical practitioner. 

It is competent for any person who may feel aggrieved by 
an order or decision of an inspector, other than an order to 
cleanse, to appeal therefrom to any two justices sitting in Petty 
Sessions on giving to such inspector the prescribed notice in 
writing of his intention so to do. 


BY HON. W. F. TAYLOR, M.D., M.L.C., D.P.H. 97 


This Act is a most useful one, and while giving power on 
the one hand for full inspection of meat and slaughter houses, 
prevents on the other hand any harsh or arbitrary action on the 
part of the inspector, and provides the means whereby butchers 
and others may carry on slaughtering in premises peculiarly 
adapted for the purpose. So far as I am aware, however, the 
provisions of this Act have not yet come into operation ; at all 
events no public abattoirs have been erected, so that we are, so 
far as the slaughtering and inspection of meat for home con- 
sumption are concerned, very much in the same position as 
before the passing of this Act. There is one obstacle which no 
doubt has influenced or prevented the Minister charged with the 
administration of this Act from putting its provisions into 
operation, and that is the difficulty in obtaining the services of 
a staff of qualified inspectors. When this Bill was before the 
Legislative Council it was insisted on by some Honourable 
Members that the inspectors, having such extensive powers 
conferred upon them, should be Veterinary Surgeons. This no 
doubt would be very desirable if a sufficient number of duly 
qualified Veterinary Surgeons could be obtained at a reasonable 
salary ; but here was an obvious difficulty which could not be 
very easily overcome—for granting that a sufficient number of 
duly qualified Veterinary Surgeons could be obtained—the salary 
required by each would render their employment prohibitive. 
However, the assurance was given that a number of intelligent 
fairly qualified inspectors were being educated locally, and that 
in process of time a sufficient number of individuals would be 
available as inspectors at a reasonable salary, and the difliculty 
foreshadowed at the discussion on the Bill in the Legislative 
Council would rapidly be removed and a staff of qualified 
inspectors soon be obtainable. I have thought it advisable to 
go into this matter of the ‘‘ Slaughtering Act of 1898’ to show 
that ample power exists in this colony to carry out the erection 
of public abattoirs, and to insure the efficient inspection of 
meat; it now remains to show in what way, if any, the 
erection of public abattoirs would prevent the spread of 
tubercular diseases. The effects of the tubercle bacillus may 
become manifest in different parts of the human body, the 
lungs, glands, brain, serous membranes, and bones being all 
liable to its ravages, the part affected depending to a great 


extent on the mode of entrance of the bacillus. The larynx 
G 


98 PUBLIC ABATTOIRS AND THE PREVENTION, ETC. 


and lungs will be infected by inhalation of the bacillus, and 
tuberculous material being swallowed will infect the intestines, 
causing ulceration, and affecting subsequently the mesenteric and 
other abdominal glands, and possibly the entire organism. Of 
infection by food, such as milk, ample evidence is forthcoming, 
and there can be no doubt from experiments carried out on the 
lower animals that meat may be also a fertile source of danger. 
In the report of the Royal Commission on Tuberculous of 1895 
the following appears:—‘‘ We have obtained ample evidence 
that food derived from tuberculous animals can produce tuber- 
culosis in healthy animals. The proportion of animals con- 
tracting tuberculosis after experimental use of such food is 
different in one and another class of animals; both carnivora 
and herbivora are susceptible, and the proportion is high in pigs- 
In the absence of direct experiments on human subjects, we 
infer that man also can acquire tuberculosis by feeding upon 
materials derived from tuberculous animals.” 


78. The actual amount of tuberculous disease among certain 
classes of food-animals is so large as to afford to man frequent 
occasions for contracting tuberculous disease through his food. 
As to the proportion of tuberculosis acquired by man through 
his food, or through other means, we can form no definite 
opinion ; but we think it probable that a considerable part of 
the tuberculosis that effects man is obtained through his food. 


79. The circumstances and conditions with regard to the 
tuberculosis in the food-animal which lead to the production of 
tuberculosis in man are ultimately the presence of active tuber- 
culous matter in the food taken from the animal and consumed 
by man in a raw or insutticiently cooked state. 


80. ‘Tuberculous disease is observed most frequently in 
cattle and swine. . . . Tuberculous matter is but seldom 
found in the meat substance of the carcase, it is principally 
found in the organs, membranes, and glands. There is reason 
to believe that tuberculous matter, when present in meat sold to 
the public, is more commonly due to contamination of the 
surface of the meat with material derived from other diseased 
parts, than to disease of the meat itself. The same matter is 
found in the milk of cows when the udder has become invaded 
by tuberculous disease, and seldom or never when the udder is 
not diseased. Tuberculous matter in milk is exceptionally active 


BY HON. W. F. TAYLOR, M.D., M.L.C., D.P.H. 99 


in its operation upon animals fed either with the milk or with 
dairy produce derived from it. No doubt the largest part of the 
tuberculosis which man obtains through his food is by means 
of milk containing tuberculous matter.’ 


82. ‘Provided every part that is the seat of tuberculous 
matter be avoided and destroyed, and, provided care be taken to 
save from contamination by such matters the actual meat sub- 
stance of a tuberculous animal, a great deal of meat from 
animals affected by tuberculosis may be eaten without risk by 
the consumer.” 


83. ‘Ordinary processes of cooking applied to meat which 
has got contaminated on its surface are probably sufficient to 
destroy the harmful quality. They would not avail to render 
wholesome any piece of meat that contained tuberculous matter 
in its deeper parts. The boiling of milk, even for a moment, 
would probably be sufficient to remove the very dangerous 
quality of tuberculous milk.” 


39. ‘There is always a difficulty in making sure of tho 
absence of tuberculous matter from any part of the carcase that 
shows evidence of tubercle elsewhere.” 


Dr. Sims Woodhead is reported to have stated that a man 
might eat a sufficiently large quantity of tubercular meat con- 
taining tubercle at one meal to induce tuberculosis. 


Bovine tubercular matter is much more virulent to animals 
generally than human tubercular matter. 


Dr. Sydney Martin in a contribution to the ‘Journal of 
State Medicine’’ says:—The parts of the body which are 
affected by the disease after infection are very varied in indi- 
vidual cases, and this variability, which in former times led to 
great misconception as to the nature of the disease (which was 
described as arising in the body, for example), led undoubtedly 
to a delay to the acceptance of tuberculosis as an infective 
disease. There are cases, for example, which are readily 
explained, such as primary pulmonary tuberculosis, and primary 
intestinal tuberculosis, in the former of which the infective 
material is evidently inhaled, in the latter of which the material 
is swallowed, and produces ulceration of the small intestine, 
affecting secondarily the mesenteric glands. There are other 
cases of tuberculosis which are not so easily explained, These 


100 PUBLIC ABATTOIRS AND THE PREVENTION, ETC. 


are the cases of scrofulous glands in the neck, of tubercular 
peritonitis without intestinal ulceration, and cases of so-called 
remote tuberculosis, ‘ primary’’ tubercular meningitis, or 
tubercular disease of the joints and bones. The experimental 
study of the disease explains in great part the anomalies in the 
distribution of the lesions in the human subject. A single dose 
of tuberculous material given with the food of a healthy pig 
will, if large enough, produce intestinal ulceration, subsequent 
infection of the mesenteric glands and of other glands in the 
abdominal cavity, followed by a general infection of the body. 
A smaller dose will produce no ulceration or sign of infection of 
the mucous membrane of the intestine, but will produce enlarge- 
ment of the mesenteric glands, and perhaps affect no other part 
of the body.’’ This important fact, namely, that a small dose 
of tuberculous virus may infect the internal organs of the body 
without producing a lesion in the mucous membrane by which 
it is absorbed was well illustrated by many experiments of the 
Royal Commission. From a practical point of view, the repro- 
duction of scrofulous glands in the neck was as important as 
any of the results. Thus with a large dose of tubercular virus 
given to the pig ulceration of the tonsil might result, with 
infection of the glands below the jaw, and then a general 
infection of the body. With a smaller dose there was no 
ulceration of the tonsil, but the glands below the jaw were 
infected, and subsequently the glands of the neck, and then the 
lungs. Witha smaller dose in one case, and also in a calf, the glands 
below the jaw were alone affected, there being no affection of the 
tonsil or of the body generally. The second and third classes of 
experiment reproduced cases which are continually occurring in 
human beings, namely, scrofulous glands of the neck, occurring 
either by themselves or associated with tuberculosis of the lungs. 
After the administration of a large dose of the poison the disease 
progressed gradually, but with certainty. It is not unfrequently 
seen with smaller doses, that the disease, after infecting one or 
the other parts, appears to remain stationary for a long time; 
but even when remaining stationary for months the lesions 
produced are still infective, as is frequently seen in the human 
subject. These lesions may lead to a generalization of the 
disease. Too much stress cannot be laid on this point as an 
explanation of the cases of so-called remote tuberculosis. In 
some of these cases in man—such as cases of tubercular 


BY HON. W. F. TAYLOR, M.D., M.L.C., D.P.H. 101 


meningitis, bone and joint disease—there is found an old lesion, 
may be not larger than a pea, at the apex of one lung, ina 
mesenteric gland—the glands below the jaw, or in the bronchial 
glands—and there may be no lesion, old or recent, in the 
mucous membrane of the alimentary tract to show the point of 
absorption. ‘These are cases in which the primary local lesion 
has retrograded, but still remained infective, the infective 
material being absorbed into the circulation, and conveyed to 
the meninges, or to the joints and bones. In the other cases 
careful research has not revealed any local lesion in the body, 
and these must be cases in which the tubercle bacillus is 
absorbed accidentally directly into the circulation.”’ 

Tuberculosis is very common among cattle, and swine, in 
this and other countries, are very liable toit. Sheep and calves, 
however, do not appear to be easily affected by it. The udders 
of tuberculous cows are liable to become infected, and the milk 
from these is a fertile source of infection to those who consume 
it. Boiling the milk is the only safeguard; but so many 
persons, both children and adults, object to drinking boiled 
milk, that the practice of boiling all milk before using it is by no 
means an universal one. Neglect of this practice in the case of 
the milk consumed by infants and young children is a common 
cause of intestinal tuberculosis, usually called tabes mesenterica, 
or abdominal phthisis. Cattle and swine being so liable to con- 
tract tuberculosis, it is very necessary that all such killed forhuman 
consumption should be properly inspected, and the only efficient 
way to do this is to carefully examine the thoracix and abdominal 
organs of the animals when killed—-for although it may be, and 
probably is true, that the flesh of tuberculous animals is in 
most cases free from contamination, and may be safely eaten 
when properly cooked, still cases do occur where the flesh 
becomes contaminated by contact with diseased lungs or other 
organs, and would therefore be a source of danger unless 
properly cooked. In any case it is highly desirable that the 
purchaser should know that he is buying the flesh of an animal 
who may have had tuberculosis of the lungs or udder, so that he 
may take such precautions respecting efficient cooking as will 
minimise any risk of infection to those eating it. The carcase, 
therefore, of an animal that has given evidence of tubercular 
infection of any of the organs or glands should be duly labelled 
and only sold as that of a tuberculous animal. I am decidedly 


102 PUBLIC ABATTOIRS AND THE PREVENTION, ETC. 


of opinion, however, that in no case should the flesh of a 
tuberculous animal be used for human food. We have seen 
from the Report of the Royal Commission on Tuberculosis that 
‘‘There is always a difficulty in making sure of the absence of 
tuberculous matter from any part of the carcase that shows 
evidence of tuberculosis,’’ and we know that the system may 
become generally infected from a tuberculous deposit, however 
minute, which may have existed for months in a quiescent state 
in any of the organs of the body. Is it right, therefore, to 
assume that the flesh of such an animal is safe to use for 
human food, no matter bow well cooked? Again, the deeper 
parts of meat are not, as a rule, thoroughly cooked—many 
people like their meat underdone, and such underdone meat can 
hardly be said to be quite safe and free from the risk of 
infection. One argument in favour of the use of the flesh of 
tuberculous animals is that it could be sold cheaper to the poorer 
classes than the flesh of healthy animals. I am of opinion, 
however, that if the flesh of tuberculous animals is to be used 
at all for human food, it should only be used by those who are 
in a position to have it well and thoroughly cooked, and who are 
not living in crowded, ill-ventilated, and insanitary tenements, 
as the poorer classes generally are, especially in our cities. In 
other words, it is less risky, personally, for the better well-to-do 
classes to consume meat of doubtful character than it is for 
the poorer classes, and the danger to the community as a whole 
trom one of the well-to-do classes becoming infected would be 
less than it would be from one of the poorer classes, by reason 
of the evironments of the one being so much better than that 
of the other, the risk of contagion from an infected individual 
being less in proportion to the degree of isolation, purity of 
air, and sanitary condition of his surroundings, ani his 
intelligent understanding of the various means by which the 
infection may be propagated. Every individual infected with 
tuberculosis is a source of contagion, and many become a centre 
for the spread of the disease. It is necessary, therefore, if the 
disease is to be controlled, if not stamped out, that every 
probable or possible source of infection should be eliminated. 
As the flesh of tuberculous animals may, and sometimes 
admittedly does, become infected, it appears to me to be obvious, 
that if tuberculosis is to be combatted suceessfully no loophole 
of escape should be permitted it ; therefore, as the use of the flesh 


BY HON. ‘Wy F. TAYLOR, M.D., ‘M.3i/¢., D.P.H. 103 


of tuberculous animals is attended with some danger of infection 
it should not be admitted as an article of human food. A rigid 
inspection of every animal killed for human consumption should 
be instituted, and on the discovery of tuberculous deposit in 
any of the organs the carcase should be condemned. To permit 
the whole or portions of the carcase to be used for human food 
is, in my opinion, playing with the question of prevention of 
tuberculosis, and the statement of the Royal Commission, which 
I have quoted, goes far to prove this contention. If, therefore, 
the flesh of tuberculous animals should under no circumstances 
be used for human food, it follows that the inspection of the 
animal to be thorough must be made under suitable conditions, 
and every facility offered to the inspector for performing his 
work properly and efficiently. It will be necessary, therefore, to 
have the slaughtering done in as few places as possible, and at 
certain fixed times, so that an inspector may be always present, 
and have every facility for examining the internal organs for any 
obvious disease, and when doubt may arise, the opportunity for 
a microscopical examination of the tissues should be afforded. 
The slaughter-house should be well lighted and ventilated, there 
should be a plentiful supply of pure water, and the drainage 
should be perfect. The addition of a ccoling chamber is not 
only very desirable, but a necessity, in order to preserve the 
carcases during hot weather, pending a thorough microscopical 
examination in suspected cases. The slaughter-house should be 
divided into compartments, in order that each butchers’ stock 
may be kept separated, and there should be suitable conveyances 
for the removal of the carcases to the different butchers’ shops. 
The modern abattoir fulfils all the necessary requirements 
recommended, and is replete with conveniences which cannot 
possibly exist in every small slaughter-house. The following is 
a description of an abattoir which may be regarded as tolerably 
up-to-date :—A square piece of ground, open on one side to the 
public road and on the other side to a railway siding, so that 
animals coming by road or rail could be readily admitted. The 
chief entrance on the street would be for persons coming on 
business. Cattle arriving by rail would be received into a number 
of pens in the first instance, and be examined by a veterinary 
inspector. If any were found to be diseased, they would be taken 
to a place set apart for diseased animals. Pigs, if possible, 
should have a bath, being made to walk through a cement tank 


104 PUBLIC ABATTOIRS AND THE PREVENTION, ETC. 


containing water, so that they arrived clean at the lairs in which 
they were to be kept. There should be separate lairs for the 
sheep, swine, horned cattle, and calves, there being a little space 
between the lairs and the abattoirs. The animals should be kept 
in the lairs for a few days until wanted, and all properly marked, 
so that each butcher would know his own cattle. In the abattoirs 
every part should be kept perfectly clean, as well as everything 
in the vicinity. The buildings could be made as ornamental as 
desired, so that they would be an improvement to a locality, and 
there should be nothing objectionable in or about them. The cattle 
should be taken into the slaughter-hall with a mask over their 
faces (blindfolded), and a spike fixed in the mask ready to be 
driven with a mallet into their skulls. The slaughter-hall should 
be a spacious building, open from end to end, a passage running 
down the centre. On one side all animals could be slaughtered, 
and the carcases hung up on the other side. When slaughtering 
was in process the inspectors could walk up and down the central 
passage, and special hooks should be provided on which to hang 
the different viscera directly the animal was killed. 


If the inspector was not satisfied, specimens of the meat 
would be taken and examined microscopically; if satisfied, 
however, the meat would be stamped in every part. If the 
butcher did not want the meat at once it could be run into the 
cooling chamber and kept at a temperature of two or three 
degrees above freezing point. There would be every convenience 
of dealing with the meat without handling it. The adminis- 
tration of the abattoir should be under a Veterinary Surgeon or 
medical man. 


Abattoirs, leading as they would to a more efficient 
inspection of anmials than could possible be made in the case 
of a number of private slaughter-houses, would benefit the 
stock-owner by inducing him to try to eliminate tuberculosis and 
other diseases from his stock, and thus improve the value of his 
herd. 

There would be an increased demand for meat from abattoirs 
on account of the guarantee afforded of its freedom from disease. 
This would benefit the butcher by increasing the sale of his 
meat. 

The losses of the butcher in close, hot weather would be 
very much reduced, owing to his being able to keep his meat 


BY HON. F. W. TAYLOR, M.D., M.L.C., D.P.H. 105 


stored in the cool chamber at the abattoir until required, and 
the meat would be much more tender and palatable from being 
kept a day or two, instead of being consumed a few hours after 
killing, as must be done under the system of private imperfectly 
equipped slaughter-houses. 


On hygienic reason abattoirs are to be commended, for their 
erection would remove nuisances from the neighbourhood of 
dwellings. I have not visited any of the slaughter-yards about 
Brisbane for some years, but on one occasion, when a member 
of the Central Board of Health, I was induced to inspect and 
report on two yards about five miles each from here. One 1 
found tolerably clean, the owner having done all that was 
possible in the absence of efficient drainage and a sufficient 
supply of pure water to prevent his place becoming a nuisance 
to the dwellers in the vicinity, but the fact that a slaughter-yard 
being in existence was amply demonstrated nasally for a mile or 
more to leeward of it. The condition I found the other yard in 
defied any powers of description, but I have no hesitation in 
saying that it could not possibly have been filthier, and more 
loathsome than it was in all its details, and the smell was some- 
thing to be remembered. It was situated on the bank of a 
creek, which at the time of my visit was not running, conse- 
quently all the drainage collected in a stagnant water-hole a few 
yards away from the killing shed, the floor of which was of 
round logs, defying all attempts at efficient flushing or scouring, 
had any ever been made. The people tiving in the neighbour- 
hood tried year after year to stop the issuing of a slaughtering 
license to the owner of this yard, but without success. I do not 
know whether it is still in existence, but if so sincerely hope 
that it is in a decidedly better condition now than it was 
formerly. 


Abattoirs would protect meat from exposure to the foul 
emanations, which are so often an accompaniment of the private 
slaughter-yard, would ensure the thorough examination of all meat 
for disease, and would materially tend to limit the traffic in diseased 
meat. On economic grounds abattoirs are desirable, for the 


meat would be less liable to spoil, being slaughtered under better 
conditions. Much blood and offal now lost would be saved and 


utilised, and there would be a saving from order, the proper 
division of labour, avoidance of driving animals along the roads, 


106 PUBLIC ABATTOIRS AND THE PREVENTION, ETC. 


and the doing of business on a large scale. Abattoirs properly 
managed yield a profit. 


On humanitarian grounds abattoirs are to be preferred, 
because they would entail less cruelty to animals, owing to the 
use of improved appliances for slaughtering, and the cattle, being 
brought by rail to the abattoirs, would avoid becoming weary 
and exhausted from being driven along hot, dusty roads. 


Sir Richard Thorne, in one of his Harben lectures, says :— 
‘‘ How is the very proper demand of the butchers for uniformity 
in the condition regulating the seizure of carcases on account of 
tuberculosis to be met? How is such skilful handling of slightly 
tuberculous carcases to be attained as will secure the removal of 
the diseased portions in such a way that no risk will attach to 
the remainder? I know only one answer, namely, by the 
abolition, as far as practicable, of private slaughter-houses, by 
the provision in all large centres of population, whether 
technically styled urban or rural, of public slaughter-houses, 
under the direct control of the sanitary authorities and their 
officers, and by the adoption of measures which will, as soon as 
practicable, provide a class of skilled meat inspectors. 

‘‘The properly administered public slaughter-house is 
demanded as an act of justice to those trading in meat; it is 
demanded in the interests of public health and decency ; it is 
demanded for the prevention of cruelty to the lower animals; 
and it is demanded to bring England, if not the United Kingdom, 
somewhat nearer to the level of other civilised nations in this 
matter. Public slaughter-houses, ofticered by skilled inspectors, 
and supervised by medical officers of health, are urgently 
required, amongst other reasons, for the prevention of tuber- 
culosis in man.”’ 


The main difficulty in dealing with the erection of publie 
abattoirs in this colony would no doubt be the ery of injury to 
vested interests ; but no man has a right to injure his fellowman 
by the sale to him, for purposes of food, of diseased meat, or 
meat which has been exposed to foul emanations; and unless 
private slaughter-houses are managed according to prescribed 
sanitary methods, and every facility given for the efficient 
inspection of the animals killed therein, they should be abolished. 
The health of the community as a whole, and of every individual 
member of it, is of paramount importance, and no cry of this 


BY HON. W. F. TAYLOR, M-D., M.L.C., D.P.H. 107 


sort should be allowed to stay for one moment the enforcement 
of strict sanitary regulations respecting private slaughter-houses, 
or their prompt abolition on failure to comply with such 
regulations. 


It is admitted that in sanitary matters generally, Great 
Britain is far ahead of any Continental nation, but in the matter 
of public abattoirs the reverse holds good. Germany appears to 
have led the van in this particular, and the number of public 
slaughter-houses is constantly on the increase, and there is a 
perfect army of meat inspectors, something like 35,000, I 
believe. But Germany is a populous country, and due regard is 
paid to the health of its inhabitants by the governing powers, 
and no doubt this large army of inspectors give good value for 
the money they cost, and many valuable lives are saved through 
their watchfulness and skill. However, where public abattoirs 
have been erected in Great Britain they have, to a greater 
or less extent, superseded the private slaughter - house. 
In Glasgow private slaughter-houses have been abolished, and 
the butchers now express a strong preference for the public 
slaughter-houses over the old system. And no doubt if we had 
public slaughter-houses here conducted on the same system as 
the one in Manchester where the butcher can enter and 
use the public slaughter-house as his own private slaughter- 
house, paying rent for it, our butchers would soon become 
alive to the advantages of an abattoir, and _ willingly 
give up their private slaughter-houses with all the trouble and 
annoyance connected with them. Let us hope that the Minister 
charged with the administration of the Slaughtering Act of 
1898, will see his way to construct a public slaughter-house for 
this community in the near future. 


In looking through the Journal of the ‘‘ Sanitary Institute” 
for 1898, I came across a plan and description of the Munich 
slaughter-house which I cannot do better than read to you. The 
communication was made by C. Childs, M.D., (Oxon), D.P.H., 
and is as follows :— 


The buildings of the Munich Slaughter-house and Cattle 
Market, &c., &c. 


The plan I have had copied and enlarged. 


108 PUBLIC ABATTOIRS AND THE PREVENTION, ETC. 


The buildings of the Munich Slaughter-house and Cattle 
Market commenced in March, 1876, were formally opened in 
August, 1878. 


The site occupied by these buildings is practically well out- 
side the city, at its south-western angle, in direct communication 
with the Southern Railway, and, through that railway, with the 
chief central station. 


The buildings, with their enclosing wall (a little over 8 feet 
high), cover about 25 acres; provision being made for future 
extension. 

The Cattle Market is in direct contact with the Southern 
Railway Station, and is separated from the Slaughter-house by 
a road of about 32 yards width. 


(A)—TuHeE SLAvGHTER-HOUSE. 
For the slaughtering of different animals, six halls (y, y, gy, 
h, h, and j) were provided in parallel lines, separated from one 
another by roadways about 50 feet wide. 


Three of these halls (y, y, y) are for the slaughter of large 
cattle. Each consists of two parts about 46 yards long and 
16 yards broad, separated from one another by gangways about 
20 feet wide. 

Each hall contains 80 slaughter places, and is fitted with 
appliances convenient for slaughtering, dressing, cleansing, 
flushing, &c. Air is freely admitted by numerous openings. 
Direct sunlight is excluded by jalousies made of upright iron 
plates, fixed outside the windows in such a way that they can be 
adjusted for this purpose according to the position of the sun. 

The two halls (/, 4) for slaughter of small cattle are similar 
in size and construction. That for swine (/) differs by being 
about 20 feet wider, and has special appliances, on a large scale, 
for scalding and scraping the carcases. 

Smaller buildings are provided— 

(k) For the slaughter and examination of diseased animals, 
also for the slaughter of horses (in a separate hall). 

(?) For the collection and removal of dung. 

(m) For quarantine stalls. 

(x) For skin and suet chambers. 

(o & p) For the collection of blood. 


BY HON. F. W. TAYLOR, M.D., M.L.C., D.P.H. 109 


(7) For the cleansing and scalding of stomachs, intestines, 
&e. 

(s, s) For the stalling and preparation of animals which are 
about to be slaughtered. 

(t, u, & v) For management and finance offices, with 
dwelling-rooms for some of the officials. 


(b)—Tue Carrte Marker. 


The Cattle Market occupies about eleven and a half acres, 
and provides for the stalling, feeding, and watering of the 
animals. 

It consists of — 

(a, a) Two large market halls for large animals. 

(@, @) Two smaller halls, containing stalls for those large 
animals which are ready for slaughter. 

(4) A large market hall for living swine and sheep. 

(c) A large. market hall for living calves, and for slaughtered 
calves and swine. 

(d) A central weighing house. 

(e) A restaurant. 

(7) Stabling and carriage houses. 

The population of Munich in 1878, when the Slaughter 
house and Cattle Market were opened, was a little over 200,000 ; 
at present 1897 it is (like that of Leeds) about 400,000. 


—- ) we 


OBSERVATIONS ON THE LIFE HISTORY OF 
THE COMMON MOSQUITO. 


ISAO Nanos) ace ea aeacans 


By W. R. COLLEDGE. 


(Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, June 17th, 1899. ) 


I wave pleasure in bringing before your notice some facts 
regarding that much-abused insect—the Mosquito. It is difficult 
to find in Australian literature, or society, anyone who has 
anything good to say on his behalf. Our Scottish poet sings, 
‘¢ Man’s inhumanity to man makes countless thousands mourn.” . 
But what shall we say of his treatment of this little insect 
from its point of view? If learned mosquitoes meet to discuss 
ethical questions in their own royal societies, they probably have 
grave doubts as to the wisdom of the Creator in forming a 
creature like man so viciously disposed to themselves. But, 
notwithstanding all the ill-treatment received from mankind, he 
manifests a most Christian spirit of friendliness, and loses no 
opportunity of forming the most intimate acquaintance with his 
most deadly enemy. As my papec is mainly intended to diffuse 
information to non-scientific hearers, I have sought to divest it 
of all technical terms using, where possible, only such language 
as the ordinary hearer can clearly understand. The word 
mosquito comes from the Spanish, and simply means “ little 
fly.”” Its first visible starting point is the egg, for the insect 
does not bring forth her young alive, but she lays eggs. The 
egg is in shape not unlike a miniature sailor’s marline-spike, 
one end rounded and tapering gradually down to the other, so 
that it assumes a conical form. In fig. 1 two separate eggs are 
seen on the left side. At the centre of the thick round end is 
a little point slightly projecting. This is really a neat little cap 
of beautiful structure, to which I shall-refer presently. 


112 OBSERVATIONS ON THE LIFE HISTORY, ETC. 


When the female is about to increase her family she goes 
about the business in a very methodical way, displaying skill 
and forethought that would do no discrelit to any Australian 
couples about to marry. It is essential that she should have 
water whereon to lay her eggs. Running water is avoided; it 
would carry her eggs she does not know where. So she searches 
out for a still and quiet pool, as dark and as much hidden from 
observation as possible. I1f dirty and filled with rotten leaves 
and branches, so much the better. The youngsters will then 
have cover from their enemies, and find food for nourishment. 
Having satisfied herself as to the best place, she alights on the 
water, the dirty scum or air film adhering to the water surface 
being quite sufficieat to support her slender form. Resting on 
the front and middle pair of legs, the hinder pair (which are often 
seen projecting upwards into the air) are then crossed in the 
shape of the letter X, and in the angle thus formed she places 
an egg, holding it upright with the capped end down; another 
is then glued to it by some cement, of which she is the original 
manufacturer, and so she goes on laying one row of eggs against 
‘another. She still keeps the mass between her hind legs, 
pushing it further out as it grows bigger to make room for 
another row of eggs, and so she industriously pursues the work 
until it is finished. Occasionally she is disturbed, and I have 
seen many of these little rafts half completed. This work 
occupies a considerable time. Recently I had one in captivity, 
and as I went to bed at 10 o’clock I noticed her standing on the 
water; so suspecting that she was growing broody, I carefully 
examined the place; she, not liking my appearance at such a 
time, flew away, and there was certainly no trace of eggs then. 
About 12 I awoke, and, lighting my lamp, I examined the place 
and there, in exactly the spot from which I had disturbed her, 
lay the egg-raft complete. So that the work was done in less 
than two hours; and it is always done during the night. When 
complete, the raft is exactly the shape of a boat, three or four 
times as long as itis broad. At the bottom of fig. 1 you have aside 
view just as it appears when floating on the water. It forms a 
complete segment of a circle, and might have been plotted out 
by a Government surveyor with a pair of compasses. Looking 
closely at the upper edge, you see it has a saw-like aspect. 
What looks like the teeth of a saw is really the small ends of the 
eggs set together in regular rows, all pointing upward. A 


Proc, ROY. SOC: QL., VOL. XV. PLATE 2. 


ho bk 


OpsERVATIONS oN THE Lirk History or THE Common Mosquito. 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE, 113 


mistake is never made in putting an egg wrong end downwards. 
All are placed with the thick end on the water. The consequence 
is that, being conical, when they are all massed closely together, 
each eg slopes to the centre, producing that curbed boat-like 
shape you see in the lower part of the picture. 


The upper figure represents an egg-boat turned up on end. * 
You are looking at it inside. The eggs are placed so closely 
together that it looks like one dark mass. Counting the rows in 
the first boat they will be found to be about twenty-five. And 
if you take an average of ten eggs in the breadth, these numbers 
if multiplied will give you 250 in the boat. That is a fair 
average. Some contain 300, others less. It forms a thoroughly 
good and perfectly unsinkable life raft. Push it down into the 
water ; it springs up again lighter than cork. The mosquito- 
boat is so perfectly built that it is impossible for it not to right 
itself when it has been submerged. If you try the experiment 
of pouring water from a jug down on it from a height you will 
find, though it may be driven down into the water and whirled 
about in all directions, you cannot break it up, and as soon as it 
is free it will rise to the surface and right itself perfectly. I 
have seen a dozen of these little vessels lying side by side just 
like a little fleet of boats. 


The mother has now done her work and she leaves it, like 
Moses in the ark of bulrushes, to the tender mercies of the 
elements. The warm, moist air assumes the functions of the 
mother, and in from 14 to 3 days the young are hatched. 


In the first picture I mentioned that there was a little 
projection in the centre of the large round end of the egg. 
This is a detachable cap which, apparently, has not been hitherto 
remarked by observers, so that our society has the honour of 
adding this interesting fact to the world’s book of science. It 
is very minute, almost transparent, and in that state difficult to 
photograph. Some little time ago, however, I managed to fix 
these caps on a slide and strain them. One specimen I sent to 
Dr. John Thompson, and he gave me a surprise by returning in 
a couple of days a most admirable lantern slide enlargement of 
it. It is one of the most perfect micro-photographs that I have 
ever seen. A copy of it is seen in figure 2. It bears a 
resemblance to one of those pretty little table mats, with a deep 


fringe with which young housewives so often decorate their 
H 


114 OBSERVATIONS ON THE LIFE HISTORY, ETC. 


tables. It seems large here but it is only the three- 
thousandth part of an inch in diameter, and this is magnified 
460 times. 

It reveals very strikingly the beauty and complexity of some 
of the things that are ordinarily hidden from our eyes. What a 
task a young mother would have if she had to crochet 250 of 
these little caps to put on the heads of as many babies. But 
Mrs. Mosquito never troubles her head about it. She simply 
does her work gracefully, easily, and perfectly. I cannot say 
what is the use of these pretty caps. The baby mosquito does 
not emerge from the egg through them. They are much too 
small for that process. One thing I notice that if you remove 
them from the egg-boat and return the boat to the water it 
cannot maintain its upright position. It will fall on its side or 
turn bottom up in the water. It hopelessly loses its balance if 
the caps are removed, probably by reason of the admission of 
air. My impression is that there is a slight circulation of water 
through it to aid in developing the contents of the egg. The 
circular fringe is attached to a thick cushion, and in the centre 
of the cushion is a hole; a corresponding aperture is found in 
the end of the egg, whereon the cap lies, and as circulating 
movements are easily discernible in the living insect in the 
inside of the shell, it seems probable that this little cap with the 
apertures is a provision necessary for the development of the 
creature within. 

When the little babies inside of the eggs are hatched, which 
takes place in favourable weather in from 36 to 72 hours, they 
find the small world within the shell too confined for 
their aspirations. They get too big for their clothes. So they 
stir, kick and struggle inside, and in consequence the shell splits 
at the thickest part of the round end, so that it either falls off 
entirely, or else it opens like a lid to allow the baby to craw] out. 
Now you see the utility of the eggs being placed with the capped 
end down on the water. The head of the youngster is always 
at that end. These little caps are kept moist as well as the 
round part, and when it splits, the baby has nothing to do but to 
crawl out into the water. And he does not get drowned. Put 
a mature mosquito into the water and it may be drowned, but 
when it comes from the egg at first it is much more like a fish. 
It takes to the water and swims about just as naturally as a 
child breathes air. 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE. 115 


You have in fig. 3 one of these young gentlemen, so that 
you may admire his person and the peculiarities of his structure. 
Not much of the mosquito about him yet, but a good deal like a 
caterpillar. He has a round head, two rudimentary eyes like 
little dots of ink, and from each cheek projects a fleshy arm 
jointed at the base. and ending in a fan of long hairs. These 
two fans he holds out in front of his face as though he were too 
modest to show himself without some covering. 


His body is built up of thirteen segments or flat rings. 
The engagement ring a young man gives to his intended bride is 
a good type of the sort with which the body of the larva is 
built. Nine form the abdomen, attached by a flexible skin, 
permitting movement in any direction. Three are fused 
together in the chest, and one, more modified, forms the head. 
Tufts of long hairs spring from the body segments, and many 
of these are tactile or endowed with the sense of touch. The 
short thick section near the head contains the circulatory organs, 
and their movements may be very clearly seen under the 
microscope. That long black tube in the centre of the body is 
not his backbone, for you know insects have no vertebrie, but it. 
is really his stomach. It is of extraordinary length, for it 
stretches from his neck right down to his tail. And I can 
assure you that his appetite is quite on a par with the length of 
his stomach. He is always eating and never seems to be 
satisfied. And I am sorry to give him a bad character too, for 
I caught one actually eating his brother. The unfortunate 
brother was nearly as long as himself, but of slenderer build. 
His head was within the other’s jaws, but, notwithstanding that 
he kicked and struggled with all his might, he gradually 
disappeared down the bigger cannibal’s throat, being swallowed 
whole. 


They generally swim tail first, a peculiar mode of progres- 
sion, but one which seems to suit their larval dignity best. If 
you notice the tail, you will see that it is divided into two 
branches. The lower fork is bluntly rounded, and the other 
seems like the four fingers of a hand. This is his swimming 
apparatus. Really a splendid four-bladed propeller. He movcs 
as a canoe is propelled, by its occupant thrusting the paddle on 
one side and then on the other. Even so, this four-bladed 
propeller is thrust on either side and pulled; and as his body is 


116 OBSERVATIONS ON THE LIFE HISTORY, ETC. 


flexible at the end of the pull, he is bent like a bow; then the 
propeller is thrust on the opposite side, and so he advances by a 
series of zigzag movements. He can move head first, and in a 
straight line when he likes, but he prefers the jerky method of 
progression. 

Another proof of the peculiarity of his lordship is that he 
breathes through his tail. Notwithstanding that he possesses a 
head, and a large mouth, he actually breathes through his latter 
end. If you examine his tail, you will find that the lower 
conical-shaped fork is the end of his breathing tubes. They run 
one on each side of his body to the head. When he requires to 
breath, which is every few minutes, he twitches himself up to 
the top of the water, and shoves the conical end of his tail 
above the surface. Its end is closed by five triangular flaps 
which seal it from the water. These neat little valves open out 
like a star, and the bubble of air enclosed in, or attached to 
them, keeps the little fellow suspended. His specific gravity is 
greater than the liquid, and he would sink were it not for the 
pull of the air bubble. So effectual is it, that occasionally I 
have seen them revolving with great rapidity, the air bubble 
acting as a pivot, and maintaining them while they spun 
round and round. Their usual position, however, is hanging 
head down from the surface while they suck in the air by the 
tracheal end of the tail. They remain so for several minutes at 
a time, twirling their head brushes in evident enjoyment. When 
satisfied, the little flaps fold themselves together, releasing the 
pull of the air bubble, and he slowly sinks to go off on another 
marine excursion. A tooth brush is said to be a sign of 
civilization. If so, then the larva is highly civilized, for he 
possesses several of these signs, and uses them well too. You 
cannot see them in the last picture for they lie there in the 
inside of his mouth. These tooth brushes are thrust in and 
out of the mouth with such rapidity that they resemble the 
action of those circular brushes used by hairdressers, which 
make your hair fly as though a ghost had appeared before you. 
One eftect is to cause a current of water to rush into the mouth, 
and food borne along with it is entangled in the hairs of these 
brushes and swallowed. I have now to show you one of the 
most interesting slides of the series, that is, the larva in a 
living state. I have been breeding some of them lately for your 
special benefit, so that you can be assured of the fact that they 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE. Waly 


are native-born Australians. They are enclosed in a glass cell 
with water, so that the light of the lantern may shine through 
and project them on to the screen. I daresay they will be much 
alarmed at the brilliant circle to which they are so suddenly 
introduced. All the peculiarities of which I have been speaking, 
their zigzag movements, breathing at the top of the water, 
through the tail, moving in straight lines, &c., you will see now 
on the screen. 


This fish-like life continues for a variable period, depend- 
ing mainly upon temperature, and the condition of the atmos- 
phere. During hot, close, sultry days, they may reach the end 
of this stage in a week, or ten days, but in cold wintry weather 
it may be prolonged to two months, or more. They usually 
moult three times during this period, casting off the old and 
getting a new skin, but, like prudent folks, they always get the 
new clothes before they throw the old ones away. They grow 
from one-sixteenth to about half-an-inch in length. They 
become yellower and less transparent, so that you cannot trace 
their internal organs so clearly as you could before, and perhaps 
the next time you visit them a complete transformation has taken 
place. They have altered so that their own mother would not 
know them. 


It does seem a wonderful thing in nature that one creature 
should grow up in the inside of another. The two beings co- 
existing for a time, but each possessing different shapes and 
habits of life, and then at a certain stage, the inner absorbs the 
life of the outer creature, whose head, skin, and tail, are dis- 
carded. 


When it reaches this second stage, the skin of the larva 
splits at the neck, the old head falls off, and a new being with a 
different head and body wriggles out of the old skin, and the 
lett-off garment goes sailing away. In the water where it 
breeds, you will find lots of these cast-off garments, all in one 
piece. He doesn’t first throw off the hat, then the coat, and 
lastly the pants, but he wriggles out of the slit between the 
shoulders leaving the old suit entire. 


This is now the third stage of the mosquito’s existence. 
First the egg, next the larve, now the pupa. He is dressed in 
a light-fitting cream coloured suit, like a young cricketer. Notice 
in his extraordinarily big head in fig. 4; that is, the large, round, 


118 OBSERVATIONS ON THE LIFE HISTORY, ETC. 


upper part of the body. His shape suggests the stop used in 
punctuating words, called the comma. Head and shoulders are 
fused together in one mass, and he has no neck. In his former 
state the round head was moveable in any direction. Now that 
has disappeared, and the head is stiffly attached to the body, so 
that it can only be moved up and down, enabling him to give a 
solemn nod, like Lord Burleigh. Two lovely black eyes gleam 
out from the sides of his head, and above them rise two trumpet- 
shaped horns thoracic spiracles. Their use is seen when we 
remember that, though still living in the water, he is an 
air-breathing insect. Formerly he breathed through his tail ; 
that aperture is now gone. Having no mouth, his only means 
of communication with the air is through these curious horns on 
the sides of his head. He bobs up and down in the water in a 
very amusing way, and every few minutes, rising to the surface 
he thrusts up these horns, and the air drawn through them is 
distributed by tubes through his body. The segments of his 
frame are united after the pattern of a lobster. A series of fiat 
rings being hinged to each other by a flexible membrane, so that 
the tail can be bent so as to come beneath the head. During 
this stage he eats nothing. All that work is done before while 
he is in the larval state. Probably some of our boarding-house 
keepers would not object to their lodgers following the example 
of the pupa. The mosquito larva manifests a very healthy 
appetite. He grows fat and plump, but after stripping off his 
combination garment, and rising up into a pupa he eats no more 
food. But though he does not eat, yet he is very active. Most 
insects, while in the pupa stage, lie perfectly still, but he is an 
exception. Always swimming, dodging, and diving, and varying 
these occupations by resting on the surface of the water, and 
sucking air though these trumpet tubes on his head. 

During this time, lasting 2 or 3 days, his cream-coloured 
garments grow into a darken hue, and inside a wonderful 
transformation is going on. The mosquito is being built up by 
unseen hands in that tiny workshop, legs, wings, antenne, 
proboscis, and body, gradually appear, all packed neatly together 
on the case, as if by fairy hands. In that pupa frame (fig. 4) was 
a perpectly-formed mosquito. Through the cover can be traced 
different portions of the body. The notch on the top of the 
head is where the neck of the insect lies; it marks the division 
of the head and shoulders. The dark tapering line below is 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE. 119 


where the proboscis and attennie lie, and the lighter curvature 
behind indicates the outline of the end of the wings, also of the 
legs, which pass into the lower part of the case. Before 
dismissing his lordship, I must point out his swimming ap- 
paratus. Instead of the four-bladed propeller, formerly possessed, 
he has a new one on his latter end. In fact, by taking a couple 
of palm-leaf fans and laying them side by side, one overlapping 
a little the edge of the other, then you would get an accurate 
representation of the double paddle of the pupa of the mosquito. 
In swimming, these flippers are contracted towards the head and 
thrust violently backwards, the force of the stroke driving the 
body forward a considerable distance. Sometimes, if alarmed, 
he gets into such a dreadful. hurry, and lets out so suddenly, 
that he turns a series of somersaults, going over and over, head 
over heels, until he reaches a safe place. I have now another 
slide of living things to show on the screen (which, unfortun- 
ately, cannot be reproduced to the readers of this paper). Here 
is a family of pup. disporting themselves in the water. Their 
motions ainply prove all that [ have been speaking to you of 
them. From their sudden outshoots you might imagine they 
were intercolonial footballers, and that those chaps sucking air 
at the top through their breathing horns were just taking a spell 
after a supreme kick. 

Now comes the final change. I watched, often and long, 
before I found one in the actual process of emerging into 
mosquito life. One morning I had this pleasure. On the top 
of some water lay a dark-coloured pupa, looking big about the 
shoulders. Suspecting what was going on, I lifted him out on 
to a glass side. Then I saw he had burst his coat vetween the 
shoulders, and in another minute he was clear out. The old 
pupa-skin lay empty on the slide, and he stood beside it a 
fully-fledged mosquito, perfect in every part. The whole process 
did not take more than two minutes. I daresay I helped him 
to get free by lifting him out and setting him on solid ground. 
Since then I have often watched the process, and have noticed 
that, when a little way out, he frees himself by bending forwards ; 
this releases a little of the back and wings; then bending 
backwards a little, more of the legs are freed, and so he indulges 
in a slow rocking motion. When the front pair of legs get out, 
his progress is accelerated ; for these are set down, and the 
leverage they give soon clears the rest of his body. Sometimes 


120 OBSERVATIONS ON THE LIFE HISTORY, ETC. 


you will find him standing on the empty skin, using it as a 
float, until his wings are dry and unfolded and capable of flight. 
Often, at this critical moment, a puff of wind may come and 
upset him, and, in his helpless, entangled state, he drowns. 


I have a view in fig. 5 that shows the process almost 
completed. I say almost, for this one had the misfortune for 
himself to get the end of his long legs entangled in the upper 
part of the pupa case; you see them as two rings through the 
clear cast-off case. It was a bad job for him, but a proof of the 
old saying that “ it’s an ill-wind that blows nobody any good.” 
It was the means of adding him to my collection, and of 
demonstrating to you this interesting change in insect life. 


The succeeding picture, not reproduced here, shows one 
of the completed forms a little larger than life, but quite 
as natural. This lady had the audacity to pay me— 
a batchelor—a midnight visit. Managing to creep through 
a hole in the curtains, she succeeded in her desire to 
have a private interview. She may have been of an 
ambitious nature, desiring fame. At all event , she got one 
thing she wanted—a good draught of my blood. You see how 
fat and buxom she has grown in consequence. I am sure she 
had to let out her waistband a good bit before her meal was 
finished. However, she got more than she expected. She was 
captured, imprisoned, and then, as is the custom with notorious 
criminals, she was photographed, and there is her portrait for 
your inspection. The wings lie folded along the back. There 
are only two in the mosquito, as it belongs to the Diptera or 
class of insects possessing two wings, but behind, and hidden by 
them, are two little club-hke organs called Haltervs, or balancers. 
They are jointed at the base, and special muscles raise and 
lower them. They are plentifully supplied with nerves, and 
believed, by some scientists, to be organs of hearing. If one is 
cut off, the insect is unable to fly straight. So that they are 
called balancers, in that they aid them to fly steadily, just as the 
pole helps a tight-rope dancer to maintain his balance. The 
insect has six legs of extraordinary length and so elastic that 
you often cannot feel them touching your skin. Each leg 
terminates in two hooks like grappling irons. By this means 
they can cling to anything they please; climb up a perpendicular 
wall, or hold on to a ceiling. 


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OBSERVATIONS ON THE Lire History or tHE Common Mosauito. 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE. 141) 


The wing is a clear strong transparent organ traversed by 
hollow ribs, which render it very light and strong. These ribs 
too, serve a double purpose, they not only strengthen the wing, 
but carry air, so that they are really an extension of the tracheal 
system. They are in the ordinary species even down to their 
minute branches covered with beautiful scales. The edge is 
fringed with various-sized scales, the deepest being found on the 
lower parts. We have (in fig. 6) a little morsel of the edge ; of 
course it is very highly magnified. | You see the terminal rib at 
the top, like a beam of wood. The stems of the scales are 
inserted at regular intervals, and hang down like a deep fringe. 
They are not unlike the short broadsword used by some eastern 
nations in warfare. [or purposes of strength, the scales are 
also ribbed longitudinally from base to point. The whole of the 
body, legs, and proboscis are likewise covered with scales, and 
these are of various shapes. Some are curved like a canoe, 
others like battledores, some like cricket bats; all have the 
pecularity of being strengthened by ribs, just as the plumber 
ribs sheets of iron to make them more rigid for the walls of 
tanks, or roofs of houses. Likewise they are arranged in regular 
order, just as tiles or shingles are placed on the roof of a house, 
the base of one overlapping the top of the next, and so on in 
regular succession. An exception to this order is found in the 
head. At the back of the head are scales, in shape like an 
American broom, and composed of a long slender shank, and a 
fan-like head. ‘These are set upright, the fan pointing into the 
air. So they resemble a Red Indian dressed in his war-paint 
and feathers. 


The mosquitoe’s chest is remarkably deep and broad, being 
bailt to accomodate the powerful muscles connected with the 
wings and legs. So powerful are these that the wings have been 
calculated to move 50 times a second, or 3000 times in a minute. 
Any athlete or footballer might be proud if he possessed muscles 
built on a corresponding scale. Hach single muscle would 
probably be as thick as a person’s arm, and the combination so 
irresistable that he might almost kick the football into the 
adjoining colony. 


Now I suppose you are wishfal for me to say something 
about the apparatus used by this insect when sucking the blood 
of his victims. I must tell you that it is believed, in scientific 


122 OBSERVATIONS ON THE LIFE HISTORY, ETC. 


circles, that the male mosquito does not stoop to do such blood- 
thirsty work.. He is too much of a gentleman, using that word 
in its original sense, to do such crimson deeds. Therefore all 
that deadly work is done by the females. With velvet wings, 
neatly-boddiced figure, a soothing song in her mouth, but an 
armoury of swords in her nose, she penetrates everywhere in 
search of blood. Of course, men have not always been correct 
in their opinions, and in the future, when we may have female 
biologists and microscopists as eminent as Lubbock and 
Dallinger are now, their more piercing vision may find some 
flaw in this opinion and roll away from the female mosquito the 
stigma now attached to her name. However, that is the verdict 
at present, and I must say it is confirmed by my own experience. 
[very time I have killed the insect that has bitten me, on 
examination the culprit has always been a female. 

But you may ask how I can tell the sex. Well, by simply 
examining their heads, nature has made a difference between 
male and female heads. In the human race the new woman 
has of late years been trying to abolish the distinction. They 
have succeeded to a large extent, in fashion and costume. To 
see only the busts of a lot of fashionably-dressed men and women 
it is not always an easy matter to tell their sex. This was not 
the case in my boyish days, but now the ladies have adopted so 
many articles of attire formerly used only by gentlemen, that it 
puzzles one sometimes to know which is which. The hair is 
often cut and parted in the same way. Hats, caps, fronts, 
collars, and jackets are often precisely the same. The sexes of 
the mosquito have not so distinguished themselves. They wear 
the same kind of garments, and trim their heads in the same way 
as did their grandfathers and grandmothers. I have here in fig. 7 
a representation of a female head. It isincomplete, for to take in 
the full length of the organs I had to leave out part of the head. 
You only see the upper rounded part, from which the various 
organs spring. The straight, thick, central projection is the 
proboscis. This isa flexible tube enclosing the sharp lancets. 
At the base lie two little organs, one on each side, these are the 
palpi. Usually very short in the female, but long in the male. 
Two slender organs, called the antennx, stretch out to each side. 
These possess 14 joints, and from each of these joints a little 
circlet of hair springs. These whorls of hair are almost of equal 
length in any joint from base to tip. _Remembering these points 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE. 125: 


youi will be able to distinguish the difference between the head of 
a gentleman and that of a lady. Here you have a male head 
in fig. 8; the central organ, the proboscis, is all there, but quite 
as long as the females; but look at the palpi how they 
wise alongside and curve out even further than the 
proboscis. That alone isa marked difference. In the female 
they were short not more than one fifth of the length of the 
organ depicted, although there are exceptions to this rule in 
some varieties, and then the antenne of this gent has quite a 
fringe of long hairs which may very fitly be called whiskers. 
So that there is a decided dlfference between the sexes. 
When once you catch these points, by merely glancing at one on 
the window or resting anywhere, you can say whether it is male 
or female. I have in fig. 9 one of these antenn from a gentleman’s 
head, which shows the difference more strikingly ; it looks like a 
plume. The hairs are longest at the base, gradually shortening 
as they approach the tip. The root of these organs is rounded 
like a ball, and it rests in a cup on the side of the head close to 
the base of the proboscis. It forms a ball and socket joint and 
is freely movable. 


It has been discovered that these hairs are musical chords, 
and the antenna is really the male mosquito’s harp. When a 
tuning-fork giving 512 vibratious per second is sounded, these 
long hairs are thrown into vigorous motion. The shorter ones 
respond to other tones. The range of sensitiveness to sounds 
extends from the middle through to the next higher octave of a 
pianoforte. That note of 512 vibrations per second is the dom- 
inant note of the female mosquito when shesings. The harp on 
the male head is built to respond to the female voice. Whatever 
other purposes it serves, it is at the same time a delicate musical 
instrument. 


In the darkness, when the female sings, supposing the male 
is flying across her position, the sound will be most felt on the 
branch of the harp nearest to her, for the off-side harp will be 
partially shielded by his head. Therefore, two series of notes 
will be conveyed to his brain, stronger on one side, weaker on 
the other. If he wishes to meet her he has only to wheel round 
and adjust his position until the sound vibrates on the both 
harps with equal force. Then, no matter how dense the dark- 
ness, flying straight forward he will reach her side. Thus her 


124 OBSERVATIONS ON THE LIFE HISTORY, ETC. 


song is not intended to annoy you when she lifts her voice around 
your head and bed. It is the mosquitoes love song. It may be 
a serenade to her lover, or a prolonged cooey to her husband, to 
come, after her drinking bont, and help her to fly steadily home, 
or it may be an invitation to her daughter’s and neighbour’s 
wives to join her in the picnic, and they are not long in coming 
to her side. 


The eye is a wonderful organ, occupying the largest part of 
the head. I have never been able to secure a good photograph, 
but here in fig. 10 is a little bit as a sample of the whole. That 
isabout the 50th part of his lordship’seye. Each of these round 
dots is a perfect eye in itself, and is furnished with a crystalline 
lens and a slender branch of the optic nerve. They are planted as 
close together as they can be, and are set all over his cheeks, 
forehead, and right round the back of his head. I have at- 
tempted to count them, and the nearest estimate is that the 
mosquito has a thousand eyes. The eye forms a very beautiful 
object under the microscope, especially when seen by reflected 
light on a dark ground. 


The antennw and palpi appear not only to be organs of touch, 
but of hearing too. 


Now about the piercing apparatus. On the upper side of 
the proboscis lies a deep groove, or channel, and in the female 
there are packed into it, no less than six sharp-pointed lancets. 
They are named after similar parts on other insects’ heads. A 
pair are called mandibles or upper jaws. Another pair maxillee 
or lower jaws. One is called the labrum or upper lip. The 
thickest lancet is the lingua, and represents the tongue, while 
the thick sheath covering the whole, is the labium, or lower lip. 
On account of their extreme fineness and transparency, and 
their resistance to most’ stains, I have not yet been able to get a 
slide that will show them satisfactory, although—like the King 
of Dahomey—I have sacrificed hundreds of heads in the 
attempt. If a hundred of these lancets were tied into a bundle, 
it would not then be so thick as the smallest sewing-needle used 
by a lady. The other lancets are very much finer; in fact, it 
takes some practice with the microscope to be able to discern the 
whole six, and it is most readily effected by dark-ground illumi- 
nation. In many illustrations, the mistake is made of 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE, 125 


representing all the lancets of one thickness. The photographic 
lens, if rightly used, give a truthful rendering of their 
dimensions. 


The male has no mandibles, and the maxille are not barbed 
at the tips like those of the female. Their mode of using their 
weapons is after this fashion :—After alighting in so fairy-like a 
manner on the skin that one is scarcely conscious of the touch, 
she tries various places with the soft tip of the proboscis before 
finally fixing on a spot wherein to bore. We speak of a 
mosquito bite, but it is not really a bite; it is a thrust or stab. 
Having decided where to bore, she plants her proboscis firmly 
down. The lancets, firmly held together, in one group, are 
pushed steadily into the skin. The sheath, elbowing itself, is drawn 
back, allowing them to sink nearly in to their full length. After 
being satisfied, the lancets are slowly withdrawn, and the bent 
sheath straighten out to receive them. It is quite easy to trap 
the mosquite that operates on the back of your hand. Before 
she has quite done sucking, gently close your fingers until the 
hand is clenched tightly, and the skin on the back, being thus 
drawn tight, it will grip the lancet points, and the insect, 
unable to free itself, will be held tightly by the nose. The 
withdrawal of the blood is effected by the largest lancet, the one 
most visible on the picture. It is a hollow tube. While 
working on it under the microscope I have, by gentle pressures 
here and there, forced liquid that has been in it up and down, 
clearly proving its tubularity. It is curved, and the end slopes to 
a point. The old saying that there is nothing new under the 
sun is exemplified here, for the sloping point and barrel of the 
hypodermic needle used by doctors to inject medicines under the 
skin is a mere imitation of the mosquitoes’ principal lancet. 
Long before the hypodermic system was invented by medical 
men, she practised it successfully every day, but no monument 
has yet been erected in her honour. 


It has been a disputed question, whether the irritation 
arising from the puncture is caused by the simple injury of 
boring, or by the injection of a poisonous fluid ; but that point 
is now decided. For, lately, the mosquito has been receiving a 
large amount of attention from scientific men and its anatomy 
has become more perfectly understood. The poison and salivary 
glands unknown before, have been found. They are exceedingly 


126 OBSERVATIONS ON THE LIFE HISTORY, ETC. 


small and so delicate that they break up easily when disturbed. 
I have spent much time and labour in trying to detach them in a 
perfect condition from the surrounding parts. J have some 
specimens, but not snfficiently complete and well displayed to 
form a good picture. Taking the finest sewing needles for 
dissecting instruments, the parts upon which they are used are 
so minute, that I can fitly compare the work to that of a 
surgeon who would use a couple of crow-bars to dissect out the 
glands of a man’s neck. Our fingers are so clumsy, that in 99 
cases out of an 100, so much mischief is done to the parts, that the 
operation is useless. They resemble three irregularly shaped 
sausages connected at the upper parts. The middle gland in 
each set differs slightly from the others, and it is supposed to be the 
chemical laboratory where the poison is made. Its two neigh- 
bours are thought to be salivary glands. But the secretions 
from the three mingle in the tube from which they all hang. 
This tube ascends to the lower part of the mosquitoe’s neck, 
where it joins the one leading from the other set of glands. 
The two thence unite and become a larger tube, traversing the 
neck and head to empty their contents into the largest lancets at 
the base of the probos-is. Thence the mixed poison and salivary 
secretions are injected into the punctured skin of the victim. I 
have here in fig. 11 a dissection of the pumping apparatus, so that 
you may see this interesting bit of the insects economy. This is a 
complete one, and resembles the bulb of an india-rubber enema. 
It is connected there to the base of the lancets, the brain and 
other portions of the head being cut away. The tube leading to 
the stomach is connected to the end that is now free. Iam not 
quite satisfied about its mode of working. My first conjecture 
was that it worked like an elastic enema. The alternate com- 
pression and relaxation of its walls pumping up the blood into 
the stomach. But one night, when racking up the condenser to 
get a better illumination on the focussing glass of the camera, I 
accidently forced the slide against the nose of a high-power 
object glass. The result was just what happened when Mary 
Jane drops the milk jug on the cement kitchen floor—the pump 
was broken into fragments, and the pieces lay on the slide. My 
newly-forn: ( theory that this bulb might be a muscular bag, 
like the heart, was shattered too by this accident, for its walls 
were as hard and brittle as china. I find it is separable into 
four longitudinal sections. There is traceable on the edges of the 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE. 127 


sections a fibrous structure, transversely striated, uniting them 
together ; I have also found muscle attached to the walls. This 
gives some colour to the notion that the sections of the pump, 
united by elastic ligament, may be pulled apart by these side 
muscles, and contract by the connective elastic tissue, and so 
set the pump in operation. But this is only conjecture. This 
shows that though many of these fields have been trodden by 
microscopic walkers, there are still numerous by-paths where 
research can be pleasureably and profitably pursued. 

The mosquito has actually been used in Havana 
by Drs. Finlay and Delgado as the means of inoculating 
new-chums with a mild form of yellow fever. The insects 
were kept in a ward in which lay a yellow fever patient, 
and afterwards introduced to the person they were intended 
to inoculate. A number of these patients took the fever 
in a mild form, the deaths only reaching two per cent. 
A very decided contrast to the number of deaths usually 
resulting from ‘‘ yellow Jack.’’ These experiments almost decide 
the question as to whether the mosquito is capable of carrying 
infectious diseases. Some time ago the Indian Government 
deputed Surgeon-Major Ross to investigate the action of mos- 
quitoes in conveying malaria. He showed a series of slides re- 
cently, before the Royal Society in London, which exhibited 
successive stages in the process of infection, and he claims to 
have proved that the malarial parasite is absorbed trom a diseased 
subject and itself becomes attacked. The parasites fertilise an] 
multiply in its body, finding their way ultimately into the 
salivary and poison glands, and thence are injected into the next 
subject they sting. He believes that only one species of mos- 
quito, ‘‘the anopheles,”” are concerned in this business, and it may 
be possible to stamp them out. 

There is a curious disease named ‘ Filaria Sanguinis”? in 
which small worms are found in the blood during the night. 
Every year a few cases are treated in the Brisbane Hospital. 
The late Dr. Joseph Bancroft, of Brisbane, was the first to dis- 
cover the parent worms in this disease, and in recognition of his 
valuable work, one of the names of this disease has been christ- 
ened after him Ilaria Bancrojti. Dr. Manson caused a China- 
man, suffering from this disease, to sleep in an outhouse infested 
by a certain kind of mosquito. Afterwards he killed some of 
them, which had been feeding on the man, and found 


128 OBSERVATIONS ON THE LIFE HISTORY, ETC. 


numbers of filaria embryo in the stomachs of the 
mosquitoes, and by a series of observations showed that, 
though many of them were digested, others pierced the stomach 
and lodged in the muscles of the mosquitoes. The embryo go 
through the changes that fit them for an independent existence, 
and the mosquito dying, the filaria escapes into the water, which 
may be drunk by human beings and so propagate the disease. 
Dr. Thos. Bancroft, who has recently devoted a good deal of at- 
tention to this subject, has, apparently, shown that the disease is 
not propagated in this way, as the young filaria are killed by a 
few hours immersion in water. 


One peculiarity of the mosquito is its music, if we are dis- 
posed to dignify such a sound by that name. These sounds are 
caused by the rapid vibration of parts of the body. The wings 
help to make it by their rapid motion. But the main cause is 
the breathing apparatus. You remember the breathing tubes of 
the larve. A similar arrangement of tubes exists in the adult 
mosquito. These tubes terminate in round holes on the sides of 
the body. Air is admitted and expelled through these openings 
or stiymata. Just below their margins are two folded leaflets 
which vibrate beneath two external valves by the movement of 
the air. They resemble two reeds ina pipe. The air passing 
rapidly through these openings during flight, they, being capable 
of contraction or expansion at the will of the insect, is the main 
cause of the sound. 


The next time you entertain a mosquito listen to the song. 
As she slows her movement over your head the note will grow 
deeper on account of the slow moyement she is executing. The 
male mosquito has a voice, and sings too. But his voice is just 
the opposite of that which exists in the human family. The 
female has the deep booming voice, while the gentleman’s is 
pitched on a much higher key. It is weaker and much more 
shrill than that of the female, and the tones likewise differ in 
different species of mosquito. 


Now the question arises—What is the use of the mosquito ? 
Does it exist only for torment? Well, I do not think we 
understand all the uses of the insect world sufficient to give a 
decided answer to that question. Our knowledge must be much 
more extensive and complete before we conclude that they are 
merely nuisances. 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE. 129 


One useful work they fulfil in their larval stage is that of 
scavengers. I kept a numerous family in a large glass jar. To 
keep them from drowning after they assumed the flying stage, I 
put the branch of a tree in so that they might have something 
to rest upon. By-and-bye, some of the leaves decayed and 
dropped into the water. Very soon the pulp of the leaves 
disappeared, and there were only left the ribs looking like a 
network of lace. The fact was that the young skeeters, 
skirmishing around, found them to be good eating. And I 
often saw them engaged in sucking the decaying leaves. They 
are not strict vegetarians either. One night, a big black beetle, 
who was out on a marauding expedition, had the misfortune to 
tumble into my mosquito-tank and was drowned. I allowed 
him to remain, te see if they would tackle him too, and I found 
they did. As he decayed, and smelt high, they gathered round 
him with gusto. He served large families with tit-bits for 
days, and they left him when only the shell and hard wing 
cases were to be seen. By thus disposing of a large portion of 
decomposing animal and vegetable matter in swamps and pools, 
they help to purify the water, and do the world service in that 
way. 


Likewise they serve as food for fish. I put both larru and 
pupa into a tank beside a small fish. As soon as they were 
perceived, he went for them at once, and whenever the fancy 
took him he bolted a few more, so that soon there was not one 
left in the tank. Serving as food for fish, we in our turn catch 
them, and find that mosquitoes, transformed into the flesh of 
fish, are not bad for humankind. 


It has been asserted that mosquitoes only live one day. 
That is not correct, for I have kept them much longer. The 
full-grown female that you saw was confined in a cell not much 
larger than sixpence. And she lived there for a week. And on 
one occasion, when I awoke in the morning, I saw a lady in 
the curtains of my bed. She was very stout, having filled 
herself with as much of my blood as she could stow away 
during the night. I put her into a good-sized vase, with a iittle 
water to slake her thirst. It was quite a week before she 
digested the good meal she had had, and resumed her natural 
shape. To test this point of age I kept her in prison for 21 


days. How much longer she might have remained alive I 
I 


130 OBSERVATIONS ON THE LIFE HISTORY, ETC. 


cannot say, for in trying to move her from the vessel into a 
larger one, she managed to escape. Thus she was my guest for 
three weeks, and that disposes of the idea that they only live 
one day. I have often kept them for a month, and I under- 
stand that Dr. J. Bancroft has succeeded in keeping some 
species alive for 80 and even 90 days. My impression is that 
their natural term of life is about three months. A good many 
born in the autumn live right through the winter until the next 
spring. They remain in a dormant state under houses, and 
the rafters of houses, in dark places, and, as a proof that they 
are not all dead, if an unusually warm and close day comes in 
winter, they soon come out to give you very practical evidence 
of their vitality. 


In conclusion, [ may say a word as to the best means of 
getting rid of them. They cannot be propagated unless water 
is to be had whereon to deposit their eggs and breed their 
young. You ought not to allow any water to lie around 
your houses. Unused tubs and buckets should be turned 
upside down. Two inches of water is all that Mrs. Mosquito 
requires for family purposes. Then your tanks should be well 
covered and the outlet-pipes covered with caps of perforated 
zinc. If this is not done, and the lady can find no other 
place, she will pass up the outlet-pipes, and deposit her eggs 
in the tank, and as she lays from two to three hundred, in a 
short time you will be surrounded with a respectable family. 
In a pond where they breed a few minnows will annihilate 
them, or the application of a little kerosene will also work 
wonders. 


Finding a pool containing large quantities of both Jarra and 
pupa, I poured a little oil on the surface and it spread in a thin 
film all over. When the young gents arose to breathe, a dose of 
oil went down both breathing tubes and trumpets, and in an 
hour, when I visited it, not a living one was to be seen. 


As a last injunction: avoid living on low ground, and in 
the neighbourhood of swamps. If possible, pitch your house 
on high ground, facing the prevailing winds of the colony. 
Mosquitoes are so light, that they cannot face a strong breeze. 
They must go with the current and will be born past you to find 
shelter in the bush, or on lower ground. 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE. 131 


I have another picture here, in fig. 12, in order to impress 
upon your memories the distinction between the sex. In the 
couple before you, the gentleman is on the left and the lady is 
on the right. He is thin and slender, but she is quite a buxom 
lady. His proboscis gently touches her shoulder, while the long 
palpi curl above. Very modestly she droops her head while he 
pops the momentous question, and if we follow the interview, 
we should probably find that she had accepted him as her lover, 
and had gone off for a waltz together. I have often seen them 
flying in couples, especially near sunset. Their flight is slow, 
and they are more easily caught when locked in each oéhers’ 
arms. 


MISCELLANEA ENTOMOLOGICA: OR 
ODD NOTES ON THE HISTORY AND TRANSFORMA- 
TIONS OF VARIOUS INSECTS. 


By R. ILLIDGE. 


[Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, December 16.] 


es 


A Frew years ago I wrote a short paper for the 
Natural History Society of Queensland (now defunct), on 
‘Insects, whose food plant is the Native Fig;’’ but, as this 
paper was lost, I now propose to reproduce some of the matter, 
together with facts concerning other insects under the above 
title. 


The figs, Ficus Australis, macrophylla, etc., appear to be 
subject to the attacks of quite a number of insects, chief amongst 
which are certain species of moths of the genus Hypsa, and 
some pretty pyrale moths of the genus Glyphodes; also, a 
noctuid Ophyx ochroptera, together with others whose depre- 
dations are not, however, confined to these trees. 


Of Hypsa, there are three species found on the fig ; they are 
H. chloropyga, H. nesophora(?),and H. plagiata. The first-named 
has a rather pretty caterpillar, brownish, marked with brick red 
and ochreous yellow; the other two have larve which bear 
considerable resemble to birds’ droppings. None of these 
insects, however, are sufficiently common to do any appreciable 
damage to the trees, in fact, chloropyga is a rare moth round 
Brisbane, nesophora is never common, and plagiata, though 
usually readily obtained, does not occur in numbers. 

The noctuid moth, Ophyx ochroptera, in the larval form, is 
brilliant green with a broad lateral band of bright yellow; it 
also is a rare species. 


134 MISCELLANEA ENTOMOLOGICA, ETC. 


The species of pyrale moths of the genus Glyphodes, which 
have been noted as attached to these trees, are four in number, 
each having somewhat different habits. The largest of them is 
Glyphodes cosmarcha, and its caterpillar attacks the young 
terminal shoots, binding them firmly together with silken 
threads ; feeding under cover of the external leaves, it devours 
the interior developing leaves and does not even take the trouble 
to cast out its own droppings. When about to pupate it deserts 
its fouled nest, selects a couple of suitable leaves and binds them 
together, leaving an opening for the escape of the moth, it 
securely fixes itself with head towards this opening amongst a 
skilful network of silken suspending threads. Glyphodes 
luciferalis differs from the above, in that it selects two leaves for 
its habitat and binds them together, feeding on the parenchyma 
within ; this accounts for the ugly brownish patches so frequently 
seen on the leaves of these trees. In pupating it differs 
somewhat from G. cosmarcha, as it joins the leaves along the 
margins, but also suspends itself in the same manner. Glyphodes 
excelsalis is more frequently to be found on the *black fig of the 
creek sides, though it also occasionally attacks Ficus Australis; it 
usually lives in a web spun on the surface of the leaves, but in 
pupating generally spins up between them for greater safety and 
secures itself much as do the others. Both this species and the 
following will largely attack the introduced edible fig. Finally, 
Glyphodes tolumnialis attacks the ends of young leaves, curls 
them over and binds them down with its silk threads and lives 
within the shelter so formed ; it is a common, but very beautiful 
species, and I have only found it on Ficus Australis and the 
introduced edible fig; curiously, however, when attacking the 
latter, it has much the same habits as G. excelsalis. As these 
pyrale larve are all of solitary habits, no particular damage is 
done to the trees, whereas the caterpillar of another pyrale of 
gregarious habits, Margarodes vertumnalis, attacks Alstonia 
constricta and Ochroscia moorei, and sometimes completely 
denudes them of leaves, to such an extent also have I seen them 
upon the Alstonia that the grubs could not get enough food to 
attain their full size, and the imagines have emerged not much 
more than half the normal dimensions. 

In April last, my attention was drawn to certain wood- 
boring larve in the stems of Ficus Australis. The webs 


covering up the openings were to be seen generally at the axils of 
* Ficus aspera 


BY R. ILLIDGE. ee 


all the smaller branches, and for some time I was under the 
impression that a new xyloryct awaited investigation. It was 
not, however, until the month of October following, upon 
inspecting a chrysalis cut out of its chamber, that it was found 
to be that of a pyrale moth. Upon this several of the bores 
were opened out and the larve examined, which still further 
confirmed the previous determination. Full confirmation shortly 
followed upon the emergence of the moths of a not uncommon 
pyrale, familiar to us under the name of Aphytoceros lucalis. 
The grubs of this insect are of a pale yellowish white colour, 
when full grown about an inch long, cylindrical, naked, and 
16-legged ; head rather small, and quite unlike that of a xyloryct 
caterpillar. The food consists of the bark and young wood of 
the tree, which they eat under a cover composed of frass loosely 
massed together with silken threads. Besides their tunnel in 
the stem, they also form a covered way partly round it; in this 
tunnel they live through the winter, pupating towards the end of 
September, or during October. Before pupating, the opening 
into the bore is neatly closed by an operculum, similar to that of 
a trap-door spider, and as a further protection the larva spins 
a strong web in front of itself, leaving just room for the change 
to the chrysalis. Emergence takes place in about a fortnight or 
three weeks after pupation. The larve are tolerably numerous 
upon the fig trees, and the perfect insects are not uncommon, so 
that it is rather surprising that the changes of this large and fine 
pyrale should have hitherto escaped observation. 

In addition to those above mentioned there are other 
lepidopterous insects which feed upon the foliave of the figs, 
but as they are not singular to it, a passing notice of one, the 
butterfly Euploea corinna, will complete my remarks upon the 
lepidoptera attached to these trees. The larvae of this insect 
are not uncommon on Ficus Australis and the introduced F. 
benjamina, but it also attacks Stephanotis, the Oleander and 
rarely Rhynchospermum, likewise several other plants of the 
Apocynaceous order. ‘The silvery chrysalides may frequently be 
seen suspended from the under sides of leaves. 

Amongst other orders of insects which attack these trees, 
that of the beetles stands first, and some of our very largest 
prey upon its decaying timber. Notable amongst these is the 
giant longicorn Batocera Boisduvalii, whose metamorphoses, 
now familiar to me, I hope to make the subject of a special 


136 MISCELLANEA ENTOMOLOGICA, ETC, 


memoir, together with a large elater Alaus sp., the grub of which 
devours its larve. 
TRANSFORMATIONS OF ASGERIA 
CHRYSOPHANES, Meyr. 

The few notes given upon Aphytoceros lucalis recall to mind 
some observations made upon the changes of the above rare insect. 

Early in September, some few years ago, we noticed a sore 
looking spot upon a red ash, Alphitonia excelsa, growing in the 
Wickham Terrace Gardens. A branch sprouted obliquely up- 
ward from near the base of the tree (the branch itself was dead) 
and at its intersection considerable decay had taken place. 
Desirous of finding out the cause, we, with a pocket-knife, 
removed the decaying bark and found a nest of larve. Carefully 
transferring the bark and grubs to a box they were taken home, 
and in a very few days out came one of the lovely little wasp- 
like moths, probably from a pupa we had not noticed. However, 
within a month they had all changed and become imagines, so 
that the patch had just been struck at the right moment. The 
moths now adorn my own and several friends cabinets. From 
notes kept I find these larvie were sixteen-legged creatures, very 
similar to Aphytoceros. Only once since then have I seen this 
insect and that was at Gympie; it was captured flying about 
some flowers overhanging a small creek, and its wasp-like 
appearance was very noticeable. 

CASYAPA BEATA. 

Some notes on this insect appeared in the Trans. of the 
Nat. Hist. Soc. of Qld., but, as I have since succeeded in follow- 
ing it through all its stages, it may be as well to record these. 

Immediately on emergence from the ovum, which is placed 
against the margin, and sometimes the point of the leaf, the 
grub cuts out a portion of leaf, taking care however to leave a 
narrow connection with the main leaf, the piece so cut it then 
bends upward and backward over itself until it has succeeded in 
forming a curious shelter. As these pieces thus cut out shortly 
turn brown they are readily seen and thus lead to the detection 
of the caterpillar. Under these singular dwellings it lives until 
big enough to enter upon another phase in its larval existence, 
for when about half grown it deserts these, and forms a shelter 
between two leaves, the upper of which it succeeds in curving 
up in a somewhat inverted spoon-like shape. Herein it now 
completes its larval state and changes to a chrysalis. 


NEW SPECIES OF QUEENSLAND LEPIDOPTERA. 


By THOS. P. LUCAS, M.R.C.S., England, 
L.§.A., Lonp., L.R.C.P., Epi. 


(fiead before the Royal Society of Queensland, 16th Dec., 1899.) 


GROUP PAPILIONINA—FAMILY LYCCGNIDA. 


LYCAENA ELABORATA. NOY. SP. 


42 25—28 m m. Head fuscous with white orbicular rings 
round eye. Antennae black and white annulated, club black 
with red tip. Thorax and abdomen fuscous, the former densely 
clothed with bright lavender-blue scales. Forewings broadly 
dilate, costa rounded, hindmargin gently rounded. In $ bright 
lavender-blue, with veins black, shewing conspicuously beneath 
the blue; in 2 bright Adonis blue in cell and along inner 
margin, with a deep patch of black border along costa to 4, 
then obliquely to vein 4, and at a sharp angle to form a broad 
hindmarginal band; the central piece of the wing which it 
encloses is moon-light white. Cilia in both sexes, white with 
fuscous dots opposite the veins. Hindwings in & as forewings ; 
in 2 white, with central third diffused with bright Adonis blue ; 
this is bounded on hindmargin with a diffused fuscous black 
band enclosing a row of six white rings with a smoky-black 
centre ; wings in both sexes finely tailed, tails fuscous tipped with 
white. Cilia white irrorated with fuscous, more so in 9. Under 
surface of wings, in § light fuscous with bands of chocolate 
colour and diffusions of reddish fuscous; the basal third of both 
_ wings is chocolate with an undulating waved white line through 
centre transversely dividing it into two bands, and a like white 
line on posterior border; a patch of like colour, bordered by 


138 NEW SPECIES OF QUEENSLAND LEPIDOPTERA. 


white, just beyond, reaching half-way across wing, and a broad 
band at 3, are both bordered on both sides with white ; a sub- 
terminal row of lunulated spots, diffused in white to hind- 
margin; hindmarginal line chocolate. In the hindwings the 
middle band is broken into rhomboidal columns, arranged 
promiscuously, to enclose a blotch of ground colour; the 
hindmarginal white suffusion borders an undulating continuous 
subterminal chocolate line and marginal line with dots on veins; 
two peacock eyes of blue and silver at and just before anal 
angle. In the ? the white patch is conspicuous in middle 
third ; the basal chocolate is divided into three bands and the 
posterior again into two by white lines; there are two rows of 
lunulated spots in the white bordering; the marks on the 
hindwings are more spread out and regular than in the $. 
Brisbane, one pair. 


FAMILY HESPERIDA. 
ISMENE LUCESCENS. NOV. SP. 

$f 40—45 mm. Head green, interspersed with 
fuscous, face ochreous.  Palpi black, tinged with ochreous. 
Antennae deep chocolate fuscous. Thorax and abdomen deep 
chocolate fuscous, interspersed with long green hairs; anal 
third of abdomen devoid of hairs, but tinged with irridescent 
violet. Forewings broadly triangular, costa gently rounded, 
hindmargin almost straight, deep chocolate, fuscous, clouded 
with diffusion of black, and with long greenish hairs over base. 
Forewings in 2 with two prominent white dots near together in 
the disc. Cilia deep chocolate fuscous, finely edged with 
ochreous. Hindwings as forewings, but inner margin, and 
basal half densely covered with glaucous or glaucous-ochreous 
hairs. Cilia as forewings. Undersurface of forewings fuscous 
with effusion of black in middle towards base ; white discal dots 
in ? conspicuous. Hindwings, colour as forewings, but 
with lilac effusion, a lilac white line, broadly diffused, extends 
from near apex of costa to a rich velvety black blotch, filling anal 
angle, resembling a silvery brook falling into a dark lake or 
reservoir; a lunular ochreous line from base, parallel to and 
cutting off a portion of ground colour of hindmargin, is more or 
less diffused with white ; these two lines form a large W, in @ 
view of the two wings; a hindmarginal ochreous line extends 
from the anal black blotch or reservoir to near apex. Cairns. 


BY THOS. P. LUCAS, M.R.C.S. 139 


GROUP ARCTIADHZ—FAMILY LITHOSIAD4. 


CALLIGENIA LIMONIS. NOV. SP. 

4 2 22-25 mm. Head and face lemon colour. Palpi 
fuscous. Antenne light lemon, shaded with fuscous. Thorax 
lemon, with a line of four smoky grey dots anteriorly, and a row 
of three posteriorly. Abdomen pale lemon, diffused with smoky 
grey, two anterior segments with a fine black lineat base. Legs 
lemon colour. Forewings elongate, strongly dilated, light lemon 
with smoky grey markings, costa rounded, apex obtuse, hind- 
margin obliquely rounded. The markings imitate scribbling, 
and are evenly distributed. The first is subtended from, but 
does not touch a broad dash along base of costa, it commences 
in a black speck, and diffuses into a running band to ineet the 
second nearer to inner margin than to costa; the second and 
third span the wing as the letter X, the fourth is roughly 
parallel with hind-margin, it is very wavy and freely denticulate, 
and touches the third on inner margin at ?; the fifth is deeply 
dentate and communicates with the fourth by dentations, less 
freely in 4, and the costal and inner thirds are prolonged to 
hindermargin. Cilia lemon, tinted with fuscous. Hindwings 
pale ochreous grey. Cilia as forewings. A pair taken in the 
Lucas-Rye Expedition, near Bellender Kerr. Allied to C. 
melitaula, Meyr, but a smaller insect and with the markings 
differently distributed, and a lemon rather than a reddish colour. 


CALLIGENIA MELITAULA. MEYR. 


Musgrave River, Lucas Rye Expedition. 


GROUP BOMBYCINA—FAMILY LIPARID. 
DARALA CONSUTA. NOV. SP. 


@ 72 mm. Head, face, thorax, and abdomen densely 
hairy, deep ochreous fuscous. Antennae ochreous fuscous. Legs 
black with ochreous fuscous hairs on under surface. Forewings 
broadly triangular, costa gently rounded, hindmargin rounded, 
reddish fuscous, with veins and marginal lines ochreous fuscous, 
and creamy white markings ; a conspicuous round discal spot at 
4 nearer to costa than to inner margin; a continuous, deeply 
dentate hindmarginal line. Cilia rufous fuscous. Hindwings 
as forewings, with no discal dot, but a widely toothed hind- 
marginal line. Cilia as forewings. 

One specimen, Aloomba. Lucas-Rye Expedition. 


140 NEW SPECIES OF QUEENSLAND LEPIDOPTERA. 


ARTAXA ARROGANS. NOY. SP. 


& 9 45—60 mm. Head, palpi, antennae, and thorax deep 
ochreous yellow. Abdomen lighter ochreous yellow. Forewings 
broadly dilate, costa rounded, hindmargin rounded, light ochreous 
yellow, veins marked and whole surface freely irrorated with 
deep reddish ochreous. Cilia light ochreous yellow. Hindwings 
as ground colour of forewings, without the darker ochreous. 
Cilia as forewings. Base of Bellender Kerr, Cairns, Lucas-Rye 
Expedition. 

FAMILY PSYCHID. 
OECETICUS FELINUS. NOY. SP. 

é 28 mm. Head fuscous, face wool white. Palpi and 
antenne fuscous. Thorax creamy grey, with anterior band, 
dorsal and lateral bands rich velvety fuscous, inclining to blaok. 
Abdomen ferrous red, freely covered with rich velvety black 
hairs, caudal segment ferrous red. Forewings elongate, gently 
dilate, costa gently rounded, hindmargin obliquely rounded, 
hialine, with veins rich velvety fuscous. Cilia blackish fuscous. 
Hindwings and Cilia as forewings. 2 Apterous. Builds 
its domicile of Casuarina needles. A female in its domicile 
was visited by two males and so taken. May Orchard, Brisbane. 


GROUP GEOMETRINA.—FAMILY GEOMETRIDA. 


ACIDALIA COERCITA, NOY. SP. 


é 2 16—19 nm. Head, face, and palpi ferrous red. 
Antennae pinky drab. Thorax and abdomen silvery drab. 
Forewings triangular, costa gently rounded, hindmargin oblique, 
sparsely wavy, silvery drab, with finely pencilled ferrous red 
marking. Forewings with a conspicuous ferrous red band 
bordering costa and hindmargin ; three transverse wavy sinuate 
finely pencilled ferrous red lines, here and there faintly dupli- 
cated, or split into dots, the first, before 4 costa to 4+ inner 
margin, the second from 2 costa to 2 inner margin, and the 
third from 7 costa to = inner margin; several faint lines, 
portions of lines, or dots, indefinitely scattered over wing generally. 
Cilia ferrous red. Hindwings as forewings, first line wanting, 
second from 4 costa to 4 inner margin, nearly parallel to hind- 
margin; third line from + costa to + inner margin, in part 
doubled, but in part dotted ; hindmargin bordered by ferrous red 
band as forewings. Cilia as forewings. Brisbane, rare. 


BY THOS. P. LUCAS, M.R.C.S. 141 


ACIDALIA VIBRATA. NOV. SP. 


& 2 20—22 mm. Head, face, and palpi ferrous fuscous. 
Antennae ochreous fuscous. Thorax and abdomen ochreous 
fuscous. Forewings costa straight, hindmargin gently rounded, 
ochreous fuscous, with smoky fuscous fascize and dots, and 
irrorated with black and fuscous scales. Forewings with 
diffused pale fuscous drab fascia from centre of base, through 
wing, gradually nearing costa towards apex: a number of lines 
and bands obliquely across wing; a faint line from 4 inner 
margin to apical end of longitudinal fascia ; a distinct but small 
discal spot; faint wavy lines parallel to first transverse line; a 
broad fascia obliquely from 2 inner margin to +4 _ hind- 
margin ; a row of darker fuscous sub-marginal dots parallel to 
hindmargin, a hindmarginal row of similar dots. Cilia ochreous 
fuscous. Hindwings as forewings, discal spot plain, median 
band continuous with that of forewings; three wavy lines or 
dots beyond run parallel, and a sub-marginal row of dots, a 
hindmarginal row of dots, in some specimens diffused into a line. 
Cilia as forewings. Brisbane, rare. 


ACIDALIA PARTITA. NOV. SP. 


$21 mm. Head, ochreous drab, with a posterior frontal 
fuscous spot, face fuscous. Palpi fuscous. Antennae ochreous 
drab. Thorax and abdomen ochreous drab. Forewings costa 
nearly straight, hindmargin’ rounded, with markings 
smoky fuscous, and black dots, freely irrorated with minute 
fuscous and black scales. Forewings with black discal dot on 
fold ; a broad, smoky, diffused fascia from beyond 4 inner margin 
toward, but stopping short, at + before apex; this is crossed 
by several indistinct lines parallel to hindmargin ; these lines 
continue on inner half of wing to hindmargin, but the costal 
half lines run in a crescentic curve from costa to costal half of 
hindmargin; a row of black dots from opposite 2 of costa 
obliquely toward inner margin at +, this row stops short of both 
margins but sends two or three small irregular placed dots near 
hindmargin ; hindmarginal fuscous line with black dots. Cilia 
ochreous. Hindwings as forewings, with oblique fascia continued 
as a median band, containing black discal dot; a succession of 
wavy lines to hindmargin, black dotted line as forewings. Cilia 
as forewings. One specimen, Brisbane. 


142 NEW SPECIES OF QUEENSLAND LEPIDOPTERA. 


EUARESTUS. NOY. GEN. 

Face smooth. Antenne in male bipectinated. Palpi moder- 

ate, slender, adpressed scales, porrected, terminal joint short. 

Posterior tibie, with all spurs present. Thorax with woolly hairs 

beneath. Forewings with veins 3 and 4 separate, 7 and 8 

stalked. Hindwings with veins 3 and 4 from a point, 6 and 7 
from a point, 8 from cell at half. 


EUARESTUS NOBILITANS. NOY. SP. 

437 mm. Head and face bright to pea green. Palpi 
moderate, deep red, first joint with long whitish hairs, on under 
side. Antenne bipectinate, stalk deep red, pectinations grey, 
shortening at either end. Legs reddish fuscous, to ochreous on 
under surface, spurs long. Thorax bright pea green, white 
woolly hairs underneath. Abdomen pea green, laterally and in 
last segments ochreous, with a black spot on centre of dorsum, 
and hind margin of posterior segments edged with purple rose. 
Forewings costa rounded, apex acute, hindmargin gently 
rounded, bright pea green. Costa white grey, finely annulated 
with ferrous fuscous, and suffused with cherry red ; four or five 
spots or blotches of ferrous red on fore part of cell and on veins ; 
a line of minute black dots on veins along a narrow line of 
indistinct darker green, from 2 costa to 2 inner margin; a few 
minute black dots scattered irregularly and sparingly. Cilia 
green, gradually shading to creamy grey. Hindwings same as 
forewings, with very indistinct darker green line, and a very few 
scattered minute black spots. Cilia as forewings. Under 
surface of all wings greenish ochreous, suffused with red towards 
base, and becoming lighter ochreous toward hindmargin; an 
irregular broad band of purple, shaded into violet, from middle 
of wings to 2, shaded towards margins, and interrupted in hind- 
wings in centre by groundcolour to form two diffused blotches. 


One specimen taken in scrub near Brisbane in October. 


EUARESTUS PATROCINATUS. NOY. SP. 

2 45 mm. Head and face bright green. Palpi with pro- 
fusion of adpressed hairs on first joint, terminal joint short, 
creamy pink. Antenne serrate, light fuscous, with creamy 
annulations, white underneath. Legs ochreous, spurs long. 
Thorax bright pea green, white woolly hairs underneath. 
Abdomen bright pea green, becoming ochreous laterally and 
over under surface ; a conspicuous arched violet red blotch on 


BY THOS. P. LUCAS, M.R.C.S. 143 


centre of dorsum, bordered narrowly and freely dotted with 
black. Forewings costa rounded, apex acuminate, hindermargin 
gently rounded, bright pea green. Costa creamy grey diffused 
with cerise, and annulated in basal half with deep ferrous 
fuscous, more sparingly towards apex ; an ochreous discal spot 
at 2, edged with ferrous fuscous ; a darker green indistinct wavy 
line, from costa 2, enclosing discal spot, to 2 inner margin; a 
few scattered black specks on veins near costa. Cilia green, 
edged with ochreous. Hindwings as forewings, with wavy line 
indistinct. Cilia as forewings. Undersurface of all wings light 
fuscous ochreous, with a broad deep purple band at 2 over costal 
two thirds of wing, and separated by a band of ground colour; 
a shading of same anterioriy to inner margin; a broader ir- 
regular band across hindwings. In hindwings veins 5 and 6 are 
concurrent at either end—the middle third enclosing a space. 


One specimen base of Bellender Ker Mt., Lucas-Rye 
Expedition. There is a remote possibility that the above may 
be sexes of one species—but so many characters differ, I have 
placed them apart. 


SKORPISTHES. NOY. GEN. 


Palpi moderate, porrected, second joint densely rough haired 
beneath, terminal joint short. Antenne in male pectinated for 
three-fourths, thence finely ciliated. Thorax densely hairy 
underneath. Abdomen with strong dorsal crests. Posterior 
tibiz with all spurs present. Forewings with viens 3 and 4 from 
a point, 5 parallel with 4, 6 from point with 9. Hindwings 
with viens 3 and 4 from a point, 6 and 7 from a point and 
united with 5 by a short crossbar, 8 anastomosing with upper 
margin of cell at base. 


SKORPISTHES UNDA-SCRIPTA NOY. SP. 

6 25 m m. Head grey. Palpi fuscous, terminal joint 
grey. Antennz fuscous, pectinations fuscous grey. Forewings 
broadly dilate, costa straight, rounded at base and apex, hind- 
margin obliquely rounded, white grey, densely dusted with iron 
grey, and with transvese black undulating lines. Forewings 
with costal edge finely irrorated with iron grey dashes; a three 


wave line from + costa to + inner margin ; a short wavy line in 
disc just before $: a waved line with eight undulations, five 


straight, from ? costa, the three last obliquely to beyond 4 inner 
margin ; a hindmarginal wave line ; diffused blotches of ferrous 


144 NEW SPECIES OF QUEENSLAND LEPIDOPTERA. 


fuscous posterior to second line. Cilia grey. Hindwings as 
forewings with first line wanting; space between second and 
marginal line freely dusted and diffused with ferrous fuscous. 
Wynnum Swamps, Brisbane. One specimen taken by Mr. 
Benson Hall. 


The forewings are thrown forward until their costal edges 
almost meet when at rest. As the creature sits on the tee-tie 
bark it is almost impossible to detect it, so perfect is the 
deception. 

FAMILY MONOCTENIADSA. 


MONOCTOPHORA. NOV. GEN. 


Face with dense hairs. Tongue developed. Antenne in % 
unipectinated, apical third simple. Papi rather stout, short, 
sub-ascending, densely scaled, terminal joint thick. Thorax 
stout, densely hairy, long woolly hairs beneath. Anterior 
tibia in 4 with apical hook, all tarsi spinulose. Forewings 
with vein 6 out of 9,10 connected with 9 by bar. Hindwings 
with veins 6 and 7 stalked. 

Allied to Monoctenia, but the stalking of veins 6 and 7 is 
very distinctive. 

MONOCTOPHORA STILLANS. NOV. SP. 

4 36—38 m m. Head, thorax, and palpi pale brownish 
ochreous. Antenne reddish ochreous, pectinations pale 
ochreous. Abdomen whitish ochreous, under surface of thorax 
and abdomen, thickly covered with long white woolly hairs. 
Forewings broadly triangular, apex acute, subfalcate, hind- 
margin gently rounded, slightly contracted or puckered opposite 
vein 2; pale brownish ochreous, with two transverse lines of 
purplish red dots, in some specimens enlarging to blotches; 
first line consists of two dots equi-distant between 4 inner 
margin to 2 costa; second line consists of dots on all the 
veins, in some suffused into a blotched bar, from 3 inner margin 
to + costa; a deep red brown hindmarginal band to just 
before anal ang!e, fringed anteriorly with ochreous red, which 
continues to anal angle. Cilia deep brown to before anal angle, 
thence and along inner margin pale ochreous. Hindwings as 
forewings, with two transverse lines of purplish red dots parallel 
to hind margin, first line of some four dots, from 4 inner 
margin to half across the wing; second line of dots and 
splashes from 2 inner margin to just before apex of costa; dark 


BY THOS. P. LUCAS, M.R.C.S. 145 


red-brown hindmarginal band from vein 4 to anal angle, with a 
brownish ochreous fringe anteriorly, extending along all hind- 
margin. Cilia as forewings. Under surface of wings marked 
as upper surface. Bred from caterpillars feeding on Geebung, 
Persooma cornifolii, Brisbane. 


MONOCTOPHORA CAPRINA. NOY. SP. 

& 2 383—85 Tl Tl. Head, palpi, and thorax ashy grey. 
Antenne brownish ochreous, pectinations lighter ochreous. 
Abdomen whitish grey, with a shading of darker grey in the 
centre of the dorsum, and a few scattered dark hairs. Fore- 
wings triangular, costa straight, apex acute, slightly falcate, 
hind margin strongly bowed ; ashy grey with small fuscous dots 
or specks on veins, and with whole surface dusted with minute 
specks, as pepper; a series of minute dots along costa, two 
transverse lines of dark grey dots, first line of three dots from 
4+ inner margin to 4 costa, parallel to hind margin, one dot 
just before inner margin, one just before costa, and middle one 
equidistant; second line, dots on all veins, from % inner 
margin to just before apex costa; dots in veins are incorporated 
in a dark brown hindmarginal line ending abruptly before anal 
angle. Cilia to just before anal angle dark red furcous, thence 
and along inner margin ashy grey. Hindwings as forewings 
with first line indefinite, second line chocolate red, developed 
before costa into two or three lunar blotches, transfused into one 
general blotch; in @ dark shading but not blotched. 
Brisbane, bred from caterpillars feeding on Geebung, Persooma 
cornifolii. 

ARRHODIA FENESTRATA. NOV. SP. 

& 34 m m. Head cream colour, face with dense fuscous 
scales. Palpi light fuscous, antennae ochreous fuscous. Thorax 
light grey with a  semilunar band, anteriorly fuscous, 
darkened with black on dorsum. Abdomen fuscous, densely 
irrorated with black dots, posterior margin of segments white 
grey shading into dark fuscous. Forewings elongate triangular, 
costa straight, apex rounded, hindmargin rounded, ashy grey, 
with veins ochreous grey, densely irrorated with light fuscous 
and minute specks of ochreous. Costal margin ochreous, banded 
and blotched with rich velvety fuscous ; an irregular translucent 
figure bounded by median vein, and veins 3 and 4, bounded 


posteriorly with rich, velvety, fuscous black band, and extending 
J 


146 NEW SPECIES OF QUEENSLAND LEPIDOPTERA. 


to costa and inner margin in errant patches; three or four 
lines of same colour along hind margin; five lunar marks ; 
black marks along hind margin, diffused into thin lines toward 
anal angle. Cilia fuscous with a basal ochreous line. Costal 
half of hindmargin wavy. Hindwings as forewings, with 
translucent figure elongated, crossed by veins 2, 8, and 4, bordered 
anteriorly on inner portion with rich fuscous, breaking 
into dots outwardly, bordered on posterior border with rich 
fuscous black band, extending to inner margin, but interrupted 
as dots to costa; numerous dots of black over basal half of 
wings, one or more blotches of fuscous before apex of costa; 
irregular subterminal black line on costal half of hindmargin. 
Cilia as forewings. One specimen, Brisbane, at light. 


ASPIDOPTERA,. NOV. GEN. 


Head and face with adpressed hairs. Antennae bipectinate, 
to near apex, pectinations short. Palpi slender, with rough 
scales, terminal joint short. Thorax hairy beneath. Forewings 
9 and 10 stalked. Hindwings with 6 and 7 from a point, 
8 coincident at base. Closely allied to Aspilates. 


ASPIDOPTERA NAVIGATA. NOV. SP. 

¢ 40 mm. Head and face, antenne and palpi orange 
ochreous streaked with fuscous. Thorax and abdomen light 
fuscous ochreous. Forewings elongate triangular, costa gently 
rounded, apex acutely prolonged, hindmargin nearly straight in 
costal half, obliquely bowed to anal angle, ochreous fuscous, 
diffused with orange fuscous, and freely dusted with black scales. 
Costa freely irrorated with short black lines; a series of five 
black and fuscous equidistant transverse sinuous lines, more or 
less parallel with hindmargin, the posterior ones somewhat 
indistinct; a broad deep waved fuscous band runs obliquely 
through the wing from } inner margin to apex ; a light ochreous 
discal spot at angle of third line and oblique central band; the space 
between first and second transverse bands is suffused with grey, 
beyond the orange deepens, but the grey is again conspicuous on 
hind border of oblique line and towards inner margin ; there are 
a number of irregularly scattered black spots near the hind- 
margin, and a pair of star rayed black dots opposite anal angle. 
Cilia deep ferrous fuscous. Hindwings as forewings, hindmargin 
straight for costal half, then doubled at right angles, anal part 
crenate ; the oblique band of forewings is continued from } costa 


BY THOS. P. LUCAS, M.R.C.S. 147 


to + inner margin; the first transverse line is only a light 
diffusion, the second and third are suffused with grey, which is 
shaded into the space they enclose ; the fourth is very conspicuous 
is parallel with the hindmargin, the space it encloses with the 
third contains a black discal spot, and is freely suffused with 
ochreous orange: the broad band between lines four and five is 
freely dusted with grey. Cilia as forewings. Under surface of 
all wings light ochreous, freely speckled and dusted with grey 
fuscous. Brisbane. 


ASPIDOPTERA AMBIENS. NOV. SP. 


6 2 28-33 mm. Head deep cherry red, with a line of 
four ochreous dots across face, and an interrupted ochreous line 
between antennae. Palpi cherry red, with second and third joints 
finely tipped with ochreous. Antennae ochreous fuscous, finely 
irrorated on basal third with cherry red. Legs cherry red, with 
grey banded lines. Thorax light fuscous grey, with a faint: 
tinge of lilac. Abdomen fuscous grey, diffused with light lilac 
red. Forewings gently dilate, costa rounded at apex, hind- 
margin strongly bowed, crenulate, fuscous grey, freely diffused 
with lilac red, and transversely crossed by circular, interrupted, 
dotted lines of ferrous fuscous; an ochreous costal line with 
short bars of ferrous fuscous edged with cherry red; a faint 
reddish discal spot; a wavy ferrous fuscous dotted line from + 
costa to 3 inner margin, darker as it approaches costa and inner 
margin; a ferrous fuscous hindmarginal line of crenulations 
and dots, with a suffused, narrow, reddish-brown band anteriorly. 
Cilia reddish-brown, with white lunations in crenulations. 
Hindwings as forewings, with dotted line continued to inner 
margin, darker and bowed outward along costa; hindmargin 
reddish fuscous, without ferrous dots. Cilia creamy white. Under 
surface of all wings grey, tinted with lilac red, with the lines of 
upper surface intensified and tinged with purple; in forewings a 
violet suffusion along costal half of hindmargin, narrowing 
toward costa; a like suffusion on hindmargin before costa. 
Brisbane, one pair, at light. 


GALANAGEIA. NOV. GEN. 
Head and face smooth. Antennae unipectinated, abruptly 
becoming ciliated in apical fourth. Tongue developed. Palpi. 
moderate, with closely adpressed hairs, terminal joint very short 


148 NEW SPECIES OF QUEENSLAND LEPIDOPTERA. 


Under surface of thorax densely hairy. Hindwings, 6 and 7 
from a point, 8 closely approaches cell before middle, thence 
diverges. 
GALANAGEIA QUARDRIGRAMMA. NOY. SP. 

¢ 43 mm. Head white, with fuscous lines on crown, and 
a fuscous bar before collar ; face ochreous fuscous. Palpi reddish 
ochreous, terminal joint blackish fuscous. Antenne, stalk 
black and white annulated, pectinations light ochreous. 
Thorax and abdomen’ reddish ochreous. Forewings 
costa slightly but distinctly bowed, apex rounded, 
hindmargin crenulate, gently rounded to one half, 
thence obliquely rounded, ochreous fuscous, suffused with light 
lilac. Along the costa are a number of short strigulations, black 
intermixed with light bluish grey, and suffused with ferruginous; 
a light ochreous band darker on anterior border from 4 inner- 
margin to * costa; a large discal spot, light bluish grey, bordered 
with ferruginous and contains anteriorly a hyaline dot and a 
lunar figure, bordered with ferruginous; crenulations of hind- 
margin bordered with a ferrous line edged with conspicuous 
ochreous. Cilia at angles deep ferrous, elsewhere ochreous. 
Hindwings as forewings, discal figure almost square, with the 
median band cutting, but not bisecting; apical and anal 
crenulations bordered as in forewings. Cilia as forewings. 
Brisbane. 


FAMILY SELIDOSEMID 4. 


CHLENIAS SAGITTARIA. NOY. SP. 

& 38 mm. Head creamy white, with a fuscous band 
between eyes. Palpi light grey. Antenne fuscous, pectinations 
drab. Thorax grey with fuscous anteriorly on dorsum, epaulettes 
and crest bordered with fuscous line. Abdomen creamy grey. 
Forewings triangular, gradually dilate, costa gently rounded, 
hindmargin obliquely rounded, creamy white, freely splashed 
with iron grey, and with lines and marks of black. Forewings 
with basal third of costa finely edged with fuscous, thence the 
line does not touch costa, but at 2 finely scatters into dots and 
specks ; a broad, black line from centre of wing at base, turns 
obliquely toward costa to opposite 3, thence inwards as diftused 
dots to a second black line, which lies parallel to a white line 
edged with fuscous, which runs from base of wing to apex of 
hindmargin; this median black line is interrupted at $, and 


EY THOS. P. LUCAS, M.R.C.S. 149 


indented in apical fourth ; a black line near base of inner margin 
obliquely to centre of wing at }; a suffusion of fuscous more or 
less beyond to hindmargin ; a zig-zag transverse line in middle 
third of wing at a little distance from hindmargin. Cilia grey, 
specked with black. Hindwings pale grey, becoming fuscous 
toward border, veins darker grey. Cilia as forewings. Brisbane, 
three specimens at light, two on trunks of scrub trees. 


ANTEIA CANESCENS LUC. 
Base of Bellender Kerr, Lucas-Rye Expedition. 


ANTEIA DODDSIANA. NOV. SP. 


4 2 28—30 mm. Head, antennae, thorax and abdomen 
white. Forewings broadly dilate, triangular, costa rounded, apex 
obtusely rounded, hindmargin straight, snow-white, with light 
leaden or water mark lines and dots. Forewings with numerous 
lines along costa to just before apex; an elongated discal spot not 
conspicuous, a row of 8 dots along inner margin; seven or eight 
interrupted lines of dots or short lines irregularly across wings ; 
a narrow hindmarginal black line. Cilia white shaded with grey 
or fuscous towards base. Hindwings as forewings, squarely 
angled and acutely produced at vein four; a definite discal dot, 
sometimes divided into two spots; inner and hind margins 
freely lined with rows of short lines ; basal half of wings without 
markings ; hindmarginal line darker than in forewings, thickened 
and interrupted on either side of anal angle. Cilia as forewings. 

Reared by Mr. Dodds from larve taken at Brisbane. 


GROUP NOCTUA—FAMILY ORTHOSID AS. 
LEUCANIA SEPULCHRALIS NOV. SP. 

& 2 30-32 mm. Head, palpi, and thorax metallic leaden 
colour, with minute specks of grey. Antennae fuscous drab. 
Abdomen ashy grey, with dorsal ridge smoky grey, and caudal 
black. Legs smoky grey, middle and posterior tibiae segment 
with lighter grey. Forewings elongate, gently dilate, costal basal 
half straight thence sensibly arched, hindmargin straight, rounded 
just before anal angle, metallic lead, lined with ochreous and 
black lines along veins, and ochreous lines between and dusted 
with lines of bluish white hairs. Forewings with costal edge ashy 
grey fining toward apex, a median suffused black band passing 
obliquely from base to + and then deflected at an obtuse 
angle to apex of hind margin; this band contains a white small 


150 NEW SPECIES OF QUEENSLAND LEPIDOPTERA. 


spot of minute rings just beyond centre, and is opposite to a 
smaller dot nearer costa; obliquely from this to apex there is a 
light tinting of ochreous fuscous; on inner side of oblique black 
band the ground becomes decidedly fuscous ochreous, becoming 
darker towards inner margin; a fine line of blue white specks 
parallel with, but not touching inner margin, hind marginal 
line black. Cilia ashy grey based with ochreous fuscous. Hind 
wings translucent white with veins grey and a suffusion of grey 
on hind margin. Cilia as forewings. Brisbane at light. 


FAMILY CARADRINID AS. 
BRYOPHILA EXQUISITA. NOY. SP. 

4 ¢ 80-34 TL Tl.—Head and palpi light grey, diffused with 
green, and speckled with black scales. Antenne fuscous> 
annulated with white near base. Thorax greenish grey, freely 
dusted with black, with wavy arching black lines forming a 
band across dorsum anteriorly. Abdomen grey, freely dusted 
with black, and with a whiter band bordering segments poster- 
iorly. Legs white, anterior tarsi annulated with black. Fore- 
wings, costa gently rounded, hindmargin rounded, white 
diffused with grey, and freely irrorated with green and black, 
with black markings ; a waved line at base encircling the thorax, 
a waved undulating line from | costa gradually approaching and 
enclosing first line in costal two thirds of wing, and then 
deflecting to inner margin; three other lines more or less definite 
and mostly symmetrical with this second line, at from }, }, and 
% costa, the last is the most strongly marked, and is angled 
towards apex by a dark shading, this breaks up into a sub- 
marginal band of black grey dust; the ends of the definite and 
partial lines on costa and inner margin are strongly marked with 
black dots or short bars. Cilia grey with bands of black. 
Hindwings fuscous, lighter toward base, darker to hindmargin. 
Cilia grey with short stripes of fuscous. 

At light, Brisbane. 


FAMILY PLUSIAD. 
PLUSIA CHILLAGOES. NOY. SP. 

3 30 mn. Head ochreous fuscous. Palpi fuscous, with och- 
reous hairs on under side of second segment. Antenne fuscous, 
Thorax creamy grey. Abdomen light fuscous. Forewings 
triangular, gently dilate, costa sparingly wavy, apex obtuse, 
hindmargin straight in apical half, thence obliquely rounded, 


BY THUS. P. LUCAS, M.R.C.S. 151 


ochreous fuscous, variegated with drab and with darker fuscous 
lines and diffusions and metallic bronze. Forewings with costa 
strongly metallic to just before apex ; a curved bronze line from 
1 costa to } of inner margin; a second bronze line from 3 of 
inner margin to 2 of costa, becoming less distinct towards costa ; 
this is bounded by a dark fuscous line posteriorly, denticulate 
toward costa ; a curve bronze line from costal origin of first line 
obliquely outward, rounds close to submedian, becoming indistinct 
to middle of second line ; this connecting line bounds a patch of 
dark fuscous which borders all the bronze lines, and gradually 
shades off toward inner margin ; there are lighter fuscous patches 
in costal half, the most conspicious before second line; a bronze 
suffusion from anal angle of inner margin to middle of wing, 
thence obliquely to middle of a sub-marginal bronze line 
extending from apex to middle of wing ; these lines are bounded 
by dark fuscous suffusion which becomes more pronounced 
toward apex ; a hindmarginal row of same colour spots more or 
less diffused into a continuous line. Cilia ochreous fuscous, with 
ferrous fuscous, darker median fuscous band. Hindwings fuscous 
with veins darker fuscous. Cilia as forewings. Brisbane. Allied 
to P. agramma, Gn. 


FAMILY DELTOID. 


HERMINIA IRIDESCENS NOV. SP. 

é ? 85-38 TI ML. Head black fuscous, with a prominent 
frontal tuft. Palpi, basal joint black fuscous, second and third 
ochreous fuscous. Antenne, stalk dark fuscous, pectinations 
ochreous fuscous. Legs black fuscous, with bases of tarsi ochreous 
fuscous. Thorax and abdomen deep black fuscous. Forewings 
gently dilate, costa gently rounded, hindmar-si.a obliquely 
rounded, blackish fuscous with black markings und ochreous 
lines, dusted with scattered whitish and purplish minute scales, 
and suffused chiefly in median band with purple iridescence. 
Forewings with a black crenulate line from } of costa to } of 
inner margin, suffused anteriorly with ochreous; a blackish or 
purple or white minute dot on or just outside this line, close to 
median ; a second undulated multidentate line from % costa to 
inner margin, shaded with ochreous posteriorly, and ending in an 
ochreous costal blotch ; between these two lines is a conspicuous 
discal spot, black, in some with two or three white dots, and in 
one variety the whole discal spot is white; a third line { costa 


152 NEW SPECIES OF QUEENSLAND LEPIDOPTERA. 


to { inner margin, thrice arched, in some more or less dentate, 
subtending a deep, black effusion anteriorly, and bordered by a 
faint ochreous line posteriorly ; a fuscous ochreous submarginal 
line, subtending rich black dots on veins. Cilia blackish fuscous. 
Hindwings as forewings, but with first line absent, or only 
faintly indicated. Cilia as forewings. Base of Bellender-Kerr, 
Queenland. Lucas-Rye Expedition. 


HERMINIA DORMIENS. NOY. SP. 

4 9 386—40 mm. Head and palpi ochreous fuscous. 
Thorax and abdomen ochreous fuscous, speckled in some speci- 
mens with grey and black. Forewings costa unevenly rounded, 
hindmargin rounded, ochreous fuscous, shaded with shades of 
fuscous, and freely speckled with black, markings ochreous; an 
’ indistinct darker, transverse line at |; a prominent ochreous bar 
from 2 costa to } inner margin shaded on either side with blackish 
fuscous; a curved line of interrupted black dots from } costa to } 
inner margin ; a banded group of scattered black dots } costa to 
% inner margin; an ochreous line at base of cilia, with black 
dots on veins. Cilia ochreous fuscous. Hindwings as forewings, 
a dark transverse band of blackish shading just before half; an 
ochreous bar at } shaded on inner side with fuscous to black. An 
ochreous line at base of Cilia with fuscous dots on veins. Cilia as 
forewings. Allied to H caenealis Walk, but a larger insect. and 
the transverse bars are differently placed. Foot of Bellender- 
Kerr, Lucas-Rye Expedition. 


GROUP PYRALIDA.—FAMILY BOTYDIDE. 


CONOGETHES JUBATA. NOV. SP. 


6? 20 m m. Head, face and antennae golden yellow. 
Palpi ferrous black. Thorax yellow. Abdomen yellow, with 
three or four ferrous dots on base of anterior segments, caudal 
appendix fringed with ferrous. Forewings gently dilate, costa 
nearly straight, apex rounded, hindmargin obliquely rounded, 
golden yellow, with ferrous red dots, and suffusion of same in 
middle third of wing, shading off in dots to costa and inner 
margin. Forewings with spot near base of costa, a second just 
beyond subtends a curved line of three dots, an elongated dot on 
either side of suffusion, the posterior one subtends a rounded 
line of dots bordering the suffusion to inner margin; this line of 
dots gives off a row obliquely to { costa, and a second row from 
nearer inner margin to opposite } hindmargin. Cilia yellow. 


BY THOS. P, LUCAS, M.R.C.S. 153 


Hindwings golden yellow, with ferrous red dots, three along 
costa, each subtending a line of dots, first from } costa to + of 
inner margin consists of three dots, the last two diffused into a 
line; the second from just beyond holds four or five dots in a 
circle to half across wing, nearly parallel with hindmargin ; and 
the third from before apex of costa forms a submarginal line 
of dots to anal angle. Cilia as forewings, In Mr, Meyrick’s 
advice I tabled this as a variety of C punctiferalis. Dr. Turner 
has taken a series which show no variation. The whole build 
and habits of the insect are quite different from our common 
peach devouring moth, the C punctiferalis, Brisbane, at light. 


GROUP TINEINA.—FAMILY XYLORICTIDA. 


CRYPTOPHAGA EUGENIAE. NOY. SP. 


& 32—34 mm, 2 388—42 mm. Head and palpi snow 
white. Antenne basal joint snow white, in 4 _ stalk 
fuscous, pectinations rich ochreous fuscous, in 9 black, gradually 
shading to white at base. Thorax snow white with prominent 
lateral crests and petagia, with a ferrous band posteriorly narrow 
on dorsum, but broadening on each side laterally. Abdomen in 
é black, each segment bordered and fringed with white or grey 
hairs, second segment with a dorsal semi-lunar patch of orange 
red, in ? the abdomen is snow white with orange red on second 
segment. Legs white, with base of all tarsi black. Forewings 
obovate oblong, costa gently rounded, hindmargin rounded, 
snow white, with minute black dots. Forewings with a black 
in dise at one third, and two others obliquely beyond at two 
thirds, in ¢ a fourth spot is indicated or faintly marked in a line 
with and near first dot ; nine or ten black dots on apical fourth of 
costa and along hind margin. Cilia snow white. Hindwings in $ 
black, with grey and white scales toward inner margin, costa edged 
with black line, with a wide costal space white. Hindwings in 
9; snow white, apex of costa and costal half of hind- 
margin with seven triangular black dots, indicated in &. Cilia 
in 6 white with smoky black marks opposite veins, becoming grey 
to black in anal third. Ciliain ? white. Brisbane, feeding in 
Hugenia.—This species differs considerably from C. Pultenee, 
Lw., with which it has been confounded. Many white species 
run very closely and only present fine differences to detection, 
This insect is larger, the males are smaller uniformly than the 
females ; the antenne in Pultenez are stated to be white, in this 


154 NEW SPECIES OF QUEENSLAND LEPIDOPTERA. 


species they are rich ochreous fuscous; the thorax has in this 
species a ferrous band and special prominent white crests, and 
the abdomen of the & is black, not white; all legs are white. 


CRYPTOPHAGA MOLARIS. NOY. SP. 


& ? 29—36 TIL NL. Head and face whitish grey. Palpi 
fuscous, second and terminal joints light grey. Antennae white, 
pectinations ochreous fuscous. Thorax white, with a light grey 
fringe behind collar, and dusted laterally and posteriorly with 
fuscous and grey. Abdomen fuscous drab, fringed anteriorly with 
ochreous hairs from thorax, with a light ferrous band on second 
segment. Legs fuscous drab. Forewings elongate, costa nearly 
straight, hind margin straight, rounded at anal angle, fuscous 
drab, freely marked with black and grey. Forewings with inter- 
rupted fine lines of white along half to three-fourths of costa ; 
the costal half of wing is irregularly diffused with rich black, the 
inner half and base of wing is freely irrorated with white, this white 
arches toward costa at base, and extends as a line to near costa 
just before apex ; a subterminal band of ground colour, bordered 
by a terminal line of light black dots. Cilia grey white, with a 
brown border. Hindwings fuscous drab. Cilia fuscous grey 
with a light brown line through base. Allied to L, fumata, 
Turner, but easily distinguished by the whole costal half of fore- 
wings being blotched more or less irregularly with black, and 
the inner half being freely irrorated with white. May Orchard, 
Brisbane, at light. 


CATORYCTIS EMARGINATA. NOV. SP. 


é 14 1M. Headwhite. Palpi white. Antenne fuscous. 
Thorax white, collar narrowly fuscous. Abdomen ochreous 
fuscous. Forewings elongate, costa gently rounded, hind- 
margin obliquely rounded, whitish ochreous with markings 
white and ochreous fuscous. Forewings with broad white band 
on costal border, from base, to and attenuating towards 
2 of costa; a second white band commencing just below, 
opposite apical end of first runs to apex ; a broad fuscous band 
separates, and encloses these two white bands on inner border ; 
a small triangular fuscous blotch in disc, two linear spots 
opposite ends of white bands; a pale suffusion along dise, and a 
conspicuous fuscous blotch before anal angle; a suffusion of 
fuscous along inner margin; and an oblique hindmarginal line 


BY THOS. P. LUCAS, M.R.C.S. 155 


of same colour bordered on either side with white lines. Cilia 
fuscous, with white basal line. Hindwings pale fuscous drab. 
Cilia pale fuscious drab. 

May Orchard, Brisbane. 


LICHENAULA VELITATA. NOV. SP. 

@ 22 mm Head, palpi, and antennae chalky grey. Thorax 
chalky grey, faintly tinged with smoky grey. Abdomen ochreous 
grey, bordered anteriorly with ochreous ferrous; a dark ferrous 
fuscous spot on dorsum of first segment. Forewings elongate 
ovoid, costa rounded, hindmargin rounded, chalky white, 
sparsely dusted with light grey, and sparingly but generally 
dotted with black and diftused smoky grey dots. Forewings with 
fine black line along basal fourth of costa; a black dot in centre 
of base, with a linear one almost touching, anda third beyond 
in centre of wing; a line on costa at + forming basement of an 
oblique line of fine dots; a dagger-like line, in middle of wing 
nearer inner than costal margin, and extended in diffused specks 
and dots to anal angle of hind margin ; a dot at } costa, with a 
dot, and, after an interruption, a line of dots, a comma dot, and 
a line of diffused spaces and dots to anal angle of hindmargin ; 
the apical third of costa is irregularly studded with diffused lines 
and dots more or less faintly marked; scattered diffused dots near 
hindmargin. Cilia whitish grey. Hindwings light smoky grey. 
Cilia lighter grey. One specimen. May Orchard, Brisbane- 
The dots are scattered, but arranged in irregular lines, as in 
light skirmishing order. 


LICHENAULA CIRCUMSIGNATA NOV. SP. 

& 2 22-24 m m. Head and face white. Palpi and 
antennae grey. Thorax iron grey, dotted with black ; a band of 
white anteriorly ; epaulettes lighter grey. Abdomen light drab, 
with bands of darker drab; a spot of ferruginous fuscous on first 
segment, Forewings elongate, costa gently rounded, hindmargin 
obliquely rounded, white, freely dusted with iron grey, and black 
linear markings, and diffused slaty grey patches. Forewings 
with two black dots separate or indistinctly united at base of 
cesta and base of wing, opposite centre; a straight line from 
before | costa, to within } hindmargin, where it becomes a slaty 
diffusion ; a third concave line in disc, extending over middle 
third of wing; a short bracket line 3 spans } of wing, but rather 
nearer costa than inner margin ; four slaty grey lines from costa, 


156 NEW SPECIES OF QUEENSLAND LEPIDOPTERA. 


the first beyond } reaching } across wing, the remaining three 
nearer costa short; a wavy slaty grey line or effusion beyond 
second costal line to inner margin at }; a subterminal diffused 
band of same colour, and a row of terminal spots forming a more 
or less interrupted line, Cilia white, bordered with grey. Hind- 
wings fuscous drab, with veins darker, Cilia drab, with a dark 
line at base on a fine light grey line. May Orchard, Brisbane, 
4 or 5 taken at light, 
LICHENAULA DIRIGENS NOY, SP, 

$ 20 mm. Head, palpi, antenne whitish grey. Thorax 
smoky grey, with a white dorsal patch posteriorly, bordered 
laterally with ferrous fuscous, Abdomen light fuscous drab, 
with a fine black line along either side of dorsum through pos- 
terior * to anal segment, Forewings elongate obovate, costa 
rounded, hindmargin obliquely rounded, white, freely dusted 
with iron grey, and thickly dotted with black and iron grey dots. 
Forewings with a fine iron grey line bordering basal fourth of 
of costa ; a black spot at base of costa, subtending a second and 
smaller one and a grey diffusion to } costa; a black spot diffused 
with grey at } costa, forming the edge of a semicircle of dots 
circling basal third of wing, parallel with hindmargin, and 
with a central dot nearer costa; a row of eight costal dots ir- 
regularly from base to apex; an irregular zig-zag figure ochreous 
grey, bordered and dentated with black or dark grey lines, from 
opposite } costa to beyond } inner margin, bordered posteriorly 
by a circular line of dots from sixth costal dot; a few scattered 
dots near inner margin; inner margin more or less diffused with 
grey; a conspicuous hindmarginal row of square black dots 
centred or barred with white. Cilia white. Hindwings whitish 
grey with darker toward hindmargin, Cilia whitish grey, with 
a central band of darker grey. May orchard, Brisbane. 


LICHENAULA PROVISA, NOV. SP. 

$ 18 mm. Head, palpi, and antennae greyish white. 
Thorax grey white with a shading of fuscous dorsally anteriorly. 
Abdomen ochreous fuscous, with a band of ferrous on each of 
the anterior segments. Forewings elongate, bowed at base and 
obtusely rounded at apex of costa, hindmargin nearly straight, 
greyish white with fuscous specks, and markings black and 
fuscous. Forewings with a white blotch on base having a black 
spot on costa, and a black dash toward hind inner margin, 


BY THOS. P. LUCAS, M.R.C.S. 157 


bordered by a transverse row of black dots; a white diffused 
patch covers two-fifths of wing with an arched diffusion of dots 
and splashes longitudinally through centre to inner margin at 
1; a line of six spots from costa at 3? to apex, becoming 
diffused into a fascia over posterior # of wing, ir- 
regularly marked with fuscous black spots, and splashed with 
metallic copper; a white spur runs into this dark fascia half way 
across wing, immediately before anal angle; a subterminal grey 
white line. Cilia white with a central grey fuscous band. Hind- 
wings ochreous white, with veins grey, shaded with fuscous 
along hindmargin. Cilia as forewings. May Orchard, Bris- 
bane, at light. 


LICHENAULA PETULANS, NOV. SP. 


é 2 18—18 mm. Head, antennae, and palpi slaty grey. 


Thorax slaty grey, fuscous grey posteriorly. Abdomen light 
silvery grey. Forewings with costa rounded, hindmargin gently 


rounded, inner margin bowed before anal angle, slaty grey with 
silver specks and black dots, only discernible in special lights; 
subhindmarginal and hindmarginal black lines faintly defined. 
Cilia slaty grey barred with black. Hindwings silvery grey, 
darker diffused toward hindmargin. Cilia grey, with lighter 
line at base. May Orchard, Brisbane. Three specimens; at 
light. 


LICHENAULA UMBROSA NOY. SP. 


& 9 26—28 mm. Head black, face grey. Palpi and 
antenne black, inclining in strong light, to iron grey. Thorax 
black or iron grey. Abdomen fuscous drab, with faint ferrous 
lines across base of anterior segments. Forewings elongate, 
costa rounded, hindmargin gently rounded, iron grey, with 
diffusion of whitish grey toward costa, and diffusion of 
black and iron grey toward inner margin, freely dusted all over 
with minute black scales. Forewings with costal edge bordered 
with fine black line from base to 1, thence with white changing 
to grey towards apex. Cilia fuscous drab. Hindwings light 
fuscous drab. Cilia as forewings. One pair May Orchard, 
Brisbane. Allied to L, haplochroa, Turner, but a much darker 
insect, and the black head, &c., readily distinguish it. 
The shading from grey to whitish grey and white toward costa 
and to black and iron grey toward inner margin is most perfect. 


158 NEW SPECIES OF QUEENSLAND LEPIDOPTERA. 


LICHENAULA TORTRICIFORMIS, NOV, SP. 
¢ 17 nm. Head fuscous drab. Palpi and antennae fuscous, 
Thorax grey, Abdomen fuscous with grey band at base of seg- 
ments. Forewings costa arched, apex acute, hindmargin 
rounded, silvery grey, freely irrorated with fuscous and marked 
with red fuscous and black. Forewings with a costal row of 
blackish fuscous spots, or breaking into scattered dots from base 
to } costa, but not touching costal edge; a transverse ferrous 
fuscous fascia from } costa diffused across wing, and shaded with 
scattered black dots and fuscous scales; this fascia is diffused 
broadly and irregularly to apex, and more or less continuously 
over costal half of hindmargin ; numerous black dots and short 
fuscous lines on veins toward hindmargin. Cilia fuscous, pale 
grey at base. Hindwings light fuscous grey. Cilia as fore- 
wings. May Orchard, Brisbane. 
CLENARCHA DRYINOPA. MEYR. 
May Orchard, Brisbane. 
XYLORICTA LYCHNOBII. SP. NOV. 

4 21 mm. Head, palpi, and antennae white. Legs white, 
tarsi annulated with fuscous bands, posterior tibiae densely 
hairy, Thorax white, suffused with very light lilac posteriorly. 
Abdomen metallic grey with a chandeliered design of ferrous dots 
and spots posteriorly across the middle segments. Forewings 
moderately dilate, costa rounded, apex obtusely rounded, hind- 
margin obliquely rounded, white, suffused with a beautiful light 
lilac, and freely speckled with grey, the grey ceasing towards 
base, markings metallic drab. Forewings with a narrow costal 
line, creamy white, thinning out to apex, and finely bounded 
towards base by a black margin ; a curved circular metallic drab 
line of dots, interrupted in fold, from beyond 2 costa to just 
before 2 inner margin. thence anteriorly along inner margin, where 
it joins the angle of a triangular blotch and suffusion of the same 
colour, this triangle reaches to within } of base, separating from . 
the inner margin towards centre of wing, where it forms a darker 
apex to before middle of wing, posteriorly the base of the 
triangle becomes lighter tinted with ochreous. Cilia metallic 
drab with a whitish band through the middle. Hindwings ashy 
grey, tinted with ochreous, with the veins outlined with fuscous. 
Cilia ashy grey. The transverse circular line which runs to join 
the broken triangle of same colour on inner margin specially 
characterises this species. Brisbane, bred. 


BY THOS. P. LUCAS, M.R.C.S. 159 


XYLORICTA AUSTERA. LUCAS. 
(Tr. Roy. Soc. Dee. 11, 1898.) 

& 2 24-35 mm. As I have this year obtained better 
specimens of this moth, I here append a fuller description. The 
thorax is creamy white, with three arrow triangles of ochreous 
fuscous ; the dorsal one is narrow, the lateral ones broader at 
base and bordered outwardly with fine blackish chocolate line. 
The segments of abdomen are creamy, shaded with ochreous 
along base, and a broad blotch of coppery ochreous on second 
segment. The forewings are cream colour, with chocolate 
fuscous longitudinal bifurcating bands, 1st along costa, 2nd from 
centre of base of wing, bifurcating at +, the inner branch to 
anal angle of hindmargin, the other toward costa; this again 
bifurcates beyond middle of wing, the one branch to costa before 
and along apex, the other to hindmargin before middle; 3rd, a 
border band from near base along inner margin, thinning out to 
anal angle; a discoidal spot at 3 and touching band to hind- 
margin; a row of fine lines beyond and below this to hind- 
margin. May Orchard, Brisbane, at light, and bred. 

TELECRATES TESSELATA, NOV. SP. 

20 mm. Head black, forehead and face creamy white. 
Palpi ochreous fuscous. Antenne fuscous. Thorax deep black, 
with a round white dot on either side and a larger one poster- 
iorly. Abdomen ochreous yellow, faintly dusted with fuscous. 
Forewings elongate, costa gently rounded, hindmargin almost 
straight, black, with creamy white markings. Forewings with 
a large pear shape blotch of white from costa at base widening 
to inner margin ; a second cream white blotch from 1 to | costa 
obliquely outward to middle of wing ; a third blotch from before 
middle to } costa as a band across wing, widening out beyond 
middle, and filling inner margin from } to }, inner margin, edge 
rounded and finely dentate; a fourth blotch to # costa 
reaches half across the wing, posterior border twice dentate; a 
hindmarginal narrow band drawn to a line to anal angle. 
Cilia cream colour, base shaded with fuscous. Hindwings 
ochreous yellow diffused with fuscous along hindmargin chiefly 
over apex. Cilia ochreous diffused with fuscous. Brisbane, 
one specimen at light. 

PHYLOMICTIS ARCTANS NOV. SP, 

$ 2 14-16 mm. Head, palpi, and antenne blackish fuscous. 

Abdomen grey, with fuscous bands at base of segments. Fore- 


160 NEW SPECIES OF QUEENSLAND LEPIDOPTERA. 


wings ovate oblong, costa rounded, hindmargin straight, grey 
freely sprinkled with iron grey, and dark black lines along veins. 
Forewings with a black spot at base, thence a diffused black 
band of lines more or less welded longitudinally through centre 
of wing, diverting and spreading beyond cell to margin, also a 
large dark suffusion along costa, and a third along innermargin ; 
a black spot in disc, which is the centre, whence radiate black lines 
and dashes toward margins; a sub-hindmarginal band of short 
black lines in interneural spaces. Cilia grey shaded with 
fuscous. Hindwings uniform light grey, Cilia as forewings, 
The suffused black forewings readily distinguish this species, 
May Orchard, Brisbane. 


PHYLOMICTIS DECRETORIA. NOY, SP. 

2 16 mm. Head pinky cream colour. Palpi pinky cream 
bordered with fuscous, terminal joint fuscous. Antenne reddish 
fuscous. Forewings elongate obvate, costa rounded at base and 
apex, hindmargin rounded, creamy ochreous with reddish fuscous 
markings, and white between veins. Forewings with pink 
border along middle third of costa; a median longitudinal band 
of deep red fuscous along wing to end of cell, where it bifurcates, 
and along its whole course gives off linear branches to costa and 
hindmargin, and is thickened toward inner margin by two longi- 
tudinal short bands which give off branches to inner margin ; 
the branches are given off as fine lines, and thicken proportion- 
ately as they approach either border ; between the radiated lines, 
the spaces are white; the inner border is suffused with fuscous, 
and the whole wing more or less tinted with pink. Cilia grey 
fuscous, Hindwings light ochreous grey, Cilia same colour 
with a dark line at base. Brisbane. Allied to P. maligna, Meyr, 
but very distinct in median longitudinal band. 


PHYLOMICTIS OBLIQUATA. NOY. SP. 

42 18—22 mm. Head, palpi, and antennae grey. 
Thorax grey, sparingly and finely dusted with black, and with a 
dorsal black line and a shorter lateral black line, with a light 
ferrous spot posteriorly, on either side. Abdomen grey with 
ferrous fuscous patch on segments, but diffused in anterior 
segments. Forewings ovoid oblong, costa gently rounded at 
base and apex, hindmargin gently rounded, light grey, densely 
irrorated with fine black, and with longitudinal velvety black 
lines along veins, and outlining cell. Forewings with decided 


BY THOS. P. LUCAS, M.R.C.S. 161 


vlack line on both borders of cell, median branching into two, 
and giving off short lines, which are again united by a row of short 
dots and lines obliquely from opposite 4 costa ; from centre of this 
short line a row of short or welded lines obliquely goes to apex, and 
a similar row from end of cell to apex of hindmargin ; a continuous 
black line along inner margin breaking up into dots along hind- 
margin ; along submedian vein a black line, a line parallel to and 
before inner margin, and a number of short lines form a line 
obliquely to apex. Cilia grey spotted with fuscous. Hindwings 
light drab with veins fuscous. Cilia light drab, with a darker 
and a lighter line at base. Allied to P. palemorpha, Turn. Five 
specimens at light, May Orchard, Brisbane. 


AGRIOPHORA CURTA, NOY. SP. 


6 15 MTL. Head grey. Palpi and antenne fuscous. 
Thorax fuscous black, with epaulettes white grey. Abdomen 
fuscous grey. Forewings elongate, costa rounded at base, hind- 
margin rounded, white, diffused with grey, with fuscous shading 
and fine black lines and dots. Forewings with costal line 
fuscous, a black line of dots from base of costa for a short 
distance along median; a longitudinal fuscous suffusion with black 
lines irregularly scattered, nearer inner margin than to costa ; 
an outward semicircle of black dots at } inner margin to median, 
this is continued along inner and parallel with hindmargin to } 
costa, a curved diffused fuscous line with black dots from one 
third costa to middle of longitudinal median band; __hind- 
marginal line fuscous. Cilia grey with fuscous dots. Hind- 
wings witish grey, with veins darker grey. Cilia as forewings. 
Brisbane, at light. Near A. poliopepla, Turn., but much more 
marbled and has several black scales, 


My et AL 1? 


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Awe vi 
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Ata 
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——. 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF THE 


ROYAL SOCIETY 


OF 


0 EIN S.A IN dD. 


VOLUME XYI. 


[The Authors alone are responsible for the opinions expressed in their papers. | 


PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY 
BY 


H. POLE & CO., PRINTERS, ELIZABETH STREET, BRISBANE. 


1901. 


GO 


ae 


Apel => ey) =I 


Roval Society of Queensland. 


Patron: 
HIS EXCELLENCY THE RIGHT HONOURABLE LORD 
LAMINGTON, K.G.C.M.G. 


OFrPHLOCH ERS, 1908- 


President : 
W. J. BYRAM. 


Vice-President: 
Fr. WHITTERON. 


Hon. Treasurer: 
Hon. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 


Hon. Secretary: 
J. F. BAILEY. 


Hon. Librarian: 
ROWLAND ILLIDGE. 


Members of Council: 
A. G. JACKSON. C. J. POUND, F.R.M.S. 
J. SHIRLEY, B.Sc. J. W. SUTTON. 

JOHN THOMSON, M.B. 


Trustees: 
JOHN CAMERON. Hon. A. C. GREGORY, C.M.G., M.L.C. 
Hon. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 


Hon. Auditor: 
A. J. TURNER. 


Alethopteris on <fe 
Anqgiopteris 

Anopheles pictus 

Anteia cadaverosa, Lucas 
Aristotelia ne 

Artaxa usta, Lucas .. 


Australian Vegetation and its 
Geological Development 


Bacillus acidi lactici 

a anthracis .. 

G butyricus 

ay figurans 

iS jianthinus .. 

a indicus 

mn prodigiosus 

fc pyoeyaneus 

5 violaceus 
Baobab tree 
Bauhinia She ae 
Bloodwood 
Bombyx effusa, Lucas 

7 figurata, Lucas 


3 frugalis, Lucas 
Boorbung .. 
Bow tree 


Bryophila vegetata, Te CAS 
Buddha-goouang oa 
Burbung of the Wiradthuri 

Tribes, The 
Calamites .. a6 
CoLLEencr, W. R.— 


Notes on a Malavia-carrying 
Mosquito (with plates) 


Currajong 
Charagia dap Manndte e, Lucas 


9 eximia, ScoTr 
‘3 lewinii 

n lignivora 

ay ramsaya, Scorr 
i splendens 

“4 virescens, DoLp 


Chooreechillum distitans, Lucas 

Cleroarcha procellosa, Lucas .. 

Cryptophaga phycidoides,Lucas 
oF cannea, Lucas 


Daphnandra 

Dieranophy lun 

Didymosorus : 

Doratiphora Apllicank: Lucas. 
se quadridens, Lucas 


Equisetum 
Eucalyptus 
Eugenia .. ae os 


SONAR SaD a fr} 
PeNSHRaAaRaAARR 


85 


Page 
Eulechria mitescens, Lucas .. $1 
Exploration in Western Aus- 
tralia 9 
Explosives, RBtes) on Modern 
(title only) Be se Wf 
Fission Fungi oe ae x 
Gareel me ws aC 36 
Gingko  .. a Sc 41 
Glossopteris bye .. 42,43 
Goombo .. ai =F 36 
Gum tree .. ais a 21 
Hann, F'.— 
Exploration in Western 
Australia Bs 9 
Hepialidz, Australasian W code 
boring (with plate) ft 65 
Hepialus .. c6 ae 67 
HImscHFreLp, E.—. 
Preventive Measures against 
the Spread of Tuberculosis al 
Holhevia populnea, Cunn re 65 
Houhere .. at 65 
Hypochroma dseigane: LGcas .. 79 
_ munita, Lucas .. 78 
‘f purpuvissata, Lucas 77 
Inspection of Home and Ex- 
port Meat Supply (title only) 44 
Intmce, R. anp Quam, A. 
(F.E.S.)— 
Australasian Woodboring 
Hepialidee (with plate) .. 65 
Imleanga fluviatilis, Lucas .. 83 
Joonggoora cunctilineata, Lucas 92 
- tricollata, Lucas .. 92 
Levicodendrous ars 41 
Lepidoptera, Oueencand oe 73 
Leptospermum a0 50 67 
Lichenaula appropinquans, 
Tivess :. é 87 
* sternoides, Lucas 86 
Life, Chiefly Bacterial are vii 
Lveas, T. P. (M.R.C.S.)— 
Queensland Lepidoptera . 73 
Macrobathra definitiva, Lucas 89 
Bs lunacrescens, Lucas 89 
a obliqnata, Lucas 90 
en vex: uviata, Lucas 90 
Macrozamias rs 3 42 
Marattia .. os fe 42, 


INDEX—Continuned. 


MatHews, R. H.— 


The Burbung of the Wirad- 
thuri Tribes 


McCatu, T.— 


Notes on Modern Explo- 
sives (title only) 
Melaleuca .. 
Melicope 
Mimosa 


Mosquito, Notes on a Malaria. 
carrying (with plates) 


Mycoderma Aceti .. se 
Olea 


Philobota diffusa, Lucas 


Photo-micrography and Photo- 
micrometry (with plates) .. 


_ Phacocytes 

Pilostibes serpta, ae CAS 
Pinaria pervicax, Lucas 
Plectrophila ascripta, Lucas 


“5 sarculata, Lucas. . 
Plum tree .. 
Porina 
Proceedings of Rangel Mea t- 
ing se s 


Qualtt, A. (F.E.S.), see ILLipe kr, R. 


QUINNELL, W.C. (M.R.C.V.S., L.) 
The Inspection of Home 
and Export Meat souk 

(title only) 


Report of Council for 1900 


Page 


35 


44 


Schizomycetes ee 


SHIRLEY, J. (B.Sc.)— 
Australian Vegetation and 


its Geological Develop- 
ment ee 
Sigillarias ae ae 
Stigmaria 
Syntomis lucta, Soci 
Teerahna regifica, I-ucas ae 
Tharambal ee oa 


Thinnfeldia “ 
THomscn, J. (M.B.)— 
Photo - micrography and 
Photo -micrometry (with 
plates) 


Presidential Address: Life, 
Chiefly Bacterial ta 
Ticks, Mosquito 
Tringilburra lugens, Lucas 
Tristania .. 
Tubereulosis, Prove entive Mees 
sures against the Spread of 


Wahwee 

White pine x a 
Woorda aquosa, Lucas 
Wullaburra nigromedia, Lucas 


Xyloricta corticana, Lvcas 


Yowan om 
Yerongponga eccqoleal Lveas 


RS ZeeE 


~ 


ES ££ f€RE 


PREVENTIVE MEASURES AGAINST THE 
SPREAD OF TUBERCULOSIS. 


By E. HIRSCHFELD, M.D. 


[Read before the Royal Society of Queensland 24th February, 1900.) 


- Tur discoveries of the last twenty years have established two 
important facts with reference to pulmonary consumption. The 
disease, which up till lately had been considered always to 
end fatally, has been proved to be curable in almost any stage ; 
moreover, with patients suffering from it in the first stage 
recovery is the rule in the vast majority of cases, especially in 
places, as in Queensland, where favourable climatic and social 
conditions come to the assistance of the patient. The second 
fact, which has been brought out by the researches of Robert 
Koch, Cornet, Fliigge, and others, is that pulmonary consumption 
can be prevented by the adoption of precautionary measures. 
Of course, it is absurd to expect that such a result can be achieved 
without considerable sacrifices on the part of the community and 
individual. But we must keep in mind that the sum total of 
deaths occasioned by this disease is very much greater than all 
the losses sustained in wars, and remember, that the 
individuals affected by it represent frequently the brightest and 
best intellects in the country. The campaign initiated against the 
spread of tuberculosis, ever since Koch discovered the infectious 
nature of the disease, will not be given up till we have succeeded 
in stamping out the disease in man and beast. This is not 
likely to happen within our generation, but we ought to put our 
shoulder to the wheel in order that we may achieve our full share 
in it. In dealing with this question, as far as it confronts us in 


Queensland, we must beware of following too closely in the 
A 


2 PREVENTIVE MEASURES AGAINST THE SPREAD OF TUBERCULOSIS 


. footsteps of European hygienists, as the vastly different climatic 
conditions of a sub-tropical and tropical country demand that 
the subject be dealt with, if I may express myself so, from a 
local standpoint, based upon our practica) experience of the 
effects of the climate, social conditions, alteration of the qualities 
of the race, &c. I therefore propose not to enter into an 
exhaustive discussion of the prevention of pulmonary consump- 
tion, and retail to you the stock of knowledge contained in the 
most recent handbooks of preventive hygiene, but limit myself 
to those aspects of the question which have presented themselves 
most strongly to my mind during a ten years’ experience of the 
disease in Queensland. 


Is Computsory Norirication Necessary ? 


The trend of public opinion of medical men in Great 
Britain, and especially in the United States, has been towards 
some form of compulsory notification of every case of pulmonary 
consumption. The opinion expressed by German authors at the 
last Tuberculosis Congress at Berlin, eight months ago, was less 
decisive in the matter. If carried out in its entirety, it would 
mean that the medical man who was called to see a consumptive 
patient would have to report the case to the authorities, as we do at 
present with scarlet fever. They (the authorities) would then take 
the proper measures believed to be required against the spread of 
the disease. At the first view the suggestion seems to commend 
itself. The duties are delegated to a central authority equipped 
perhaps with the most modern knowledge und the most modern 
means of dealing with the spread of infectious diseases. But as 
far as pulmonary consumption in Queensland it concerned, I see 
most serious obstacles in the way of carrying out such a measure 
of compulsary notification. In the first instance we must 
remember that we have to deal not with an acute disease like 
scarlet fever, which is over in a few weeks, but with an illness 
that lasts for many years. ‘To place all the patients so affected 
under constant supervision for a number of years would entail 
an enormous expense; besides it would be absolutely contrary 
to the instincts of every free man. Moreover, Queensland is so 
large, the population so scattered, that an efficient supervision 
could not be carried out. Notification would interfere with the 
consumptive earning his living. During the greater part of his 
illness he is able to follow his occupation. Reporting him to the 
authorities would brand him as dangerous, and he would most 
likely lose his employment. 


a el 


BY E. HIRSCHFELD, M.D. 3 


Apart, however, from the injustice inflicted upon the con- 
sumptive compulsary legislation would defeat its own object, 
and I think considerable stress must be laid upon this point. 
For the proper disposal of the expectoration, the chief carrier of 
the infective agent, the turbercle bacillus, we must rely upon the 
willing co-operation of the consumptive patient. No amount of 
supervision could look after this as effectually as the properly 
educated phthisical patient. If we harass him by unnecessary 
restrictions, is it likely that he would take much trouble to pro- 
tect the community against the danger emanating from him 
when the community protects itself by persecuting the consump- 
tive on account of his affliction. 


Tue DisposaL oF THE SPuTUM. 


The consumptive patient himself is in nowise dangerous, 
the real danger lies in the sputum which he expectorates, which 
carries millions of tubercle bacilli. Researches published in the 
last year have shown that the bacillus does not thrive outside 
the body ; even when cultivated on special nutrient soils it 
loses its virulence to a certain extent. Still the dried sputum 
retains its infectious qualities for a considerable time. The 
dust of our streets is, however, hardly ever dangerous since 
exposure to direct sunlight kills the bacillus within very short time. 
The best way of fighting against the spread of tuberculosis 
is to render the expectoration innocuous as soon as it leaves the 
patient. It should be deposited in a spittoon which can be 
easily cleaned and contains some antiseptic solution, or into a 
portable bottle, or lastly into the handkerchief. I should like 
to suggest, that our authorities set a good example in public 
’ hygiene by providing suitably appointed spittoons in all public 
buildings. Even our splendid Treasury building would not be 
disgraced by a liberal number of these vessels. Schools, 
churches, theatres, waiting rooms, and all public rooms, 
and conveyances should be similarly fitted up. I am sure 
business people of their own accord would readily follow such a 
good example for the benefit of their employees. The habit of 
spitting upon the floor is not only disgusting but dangerous, and 
should be put a stop to whether the man is suffering from 
tuberculosis, or any other disease, or from none atall. I fancy 
many an office will find it to its advantage to supply spittoons 
for their employees as suggested, more particularly during an 
influenza epidemic. 


4 PREVENTIVE MEASURES AGAINST THE SPREAD OF TUBERCULOSIS 


E,pucation. 


Knowing the danger of infection and how it is carried 
about almost amounts to being able to avoid it. But how is 
the great mass of people to know? We cannot put a policeman 
behind everybody to see that he does not expectorate on the 
floor. The best means of spreading information to the masses 
is provided by our educational system. | Why should not every 
boy be taught in the public school the salient features of this 
part of hygiene, how far it is in the power of everybody to 
prevent the spread of infectious diseases generally. Above all 
let him be taught that it is criminal to endanger the life of his 
fellowmen by careless expectoration. A habit thus early 
acquired is likely to persist in after life. 


Houses. 

It is not likely that hygienic principles will be exclusively 
followed in the building of houses. On the whole we’ are rather 
fortunate, as far as the spread of tuberculosis is concerned, that 
most of our private residences are wooden buildings. A brick 
house, the walls of which are papered, is more difficult to 
disinfect after having once been inhabited by a consumptive 
than a wooden building. It is also a consideration, that the 
latter has a far shorter life than the former, especially when we 
remember the experience reported by certain authors, who found 
that certain houses formerly inhabited by consumptives were 
regular death traps for subsequent lodgers. Having regard to 
the great disinfecting power of direct sunlight, it is of importance 
that the sun should have access to the bedrooms during some 
part of the day. As wood does not retain the heat so much as 
bricks, the temperature of the bedroom will not be unduly 


increased in consequence. The difficulty of disinfecting the ~ 


papered walls of a room could only be done away with by 
varnishing the paper. A very important research has been 
published a few months ago by Heimes, from LéfHer’s laboratory. 
It is of great interest for us. He investigated the disinfecting 
power of different kinds of paints, viz., oilpaint, enamel, 
distemper and limewash, with the result that bacteria were 
most quickly killed by oilpaint, while distemper proved least 
efficient. He found*the antiseptic power of oilpaint—100; 
enamel-—40 ; limewash—20 ; distemper—10. Oilpaints should 
therefore be chosen, where ready disinfection is an object, as in 
hospitals, schools, public buildings, etc. The antiseptic qualities 
of the oilpaint are both mechanical and chemical, the latter 


BY E. HIRSCHFELD, M.D. 5) 


probably due to the turpentine and the action of the atmospheric 
air upon it leading to the formation of ozone and peroxide of 
hydrogen. 


BEppinG. 


Infected bedclothes form one of the readiest means for the 
spread of pulmonary consumption. Time after time I have had 
occasion to draw the attention of patients and their relatives 
to the seriousness of the matter, especially since in the last few 
years so many consumptives have gone up to Roma, and other 
places in the West. The whole matter has become a source of 
grave public danger. A tubercular patient will occasionly 
expectorate during sleep, without being quite conscious of it. 
It is therefore almost impossible to prevent that pillows slips 
should become saturated at places with tubercle bacilli. Pillow 
slips, of course, are changed, and the ordinary boiling they 
undergo in the wash is a fairly sufficient protection. The 
pillow covers, however, are not changed, and if a consumptive 
with profuse expectoration has slept several nights the cover 
always contains bacilli. Now anybody else, say in a hotel, 
sleeping on the same pillow, the moiscure of his breath will 
again moisten the dried sputum of the cover and the fresh 
pillowslip becomes resaturated from it. The man sleeping upon 
it will be in the most suitable position for inhaling tubercle bacilli, 
or for the matter of that any other infectious germs which 
might have been deposited. A more ready way of contracting 
€onsumption it is difficult to imagine. This also applies to a 
certain extent to the blankets which can only be washed with 
Jukewarm water. Without in any way desiring to impugn the 
eleanliness of their proprietors, I feel convinced that any man 
sleeping in a hotel or boarding house at Roma runs a very 
appreciable risk of infection. What can be done to guard against 
this source of infection? Steps must be taken against such a 
serious public danger. A rather primitive but fairly efficient 
way of killing the bacillus is to expose pillows and blankets every 
morning to the sun. The strong insolation in our western 
plains can be relied upon to destroy all the tubercle bacilli 
which are on the surface. On the other hand the antiseptic 
power of the sun does not reach below the surface into the 
Kkapock. My suggestion is that the ticking used for pillow- 
covers be treated in such a way that it becomes non-absorbent 
and impermeable for liquids, and that only such materials be 
used in hotels, boarding-houses, sleeping-cars, and similar places 


6 PREVENTIVE MEASURES AGAINST THE SPREAD OF TUBERCULOSIS: 


for pillow covers. Especially with reference to influenza, even 
more so than tuberculosis, the adoption of such a method would 
tend to prevent the rapid spread of the disease. The covers 
thus impregnated could readily be disinfected either by exposing 
them to the sun or washing them with some antiseptic 
solution. 


DIsINFECTION. 


Au absolutely necessary condition for an effective contest 
against the spread of tuberculosis is the facility for disinfection. 
Effective disinfection of infected furniture, clothes, bedding, etc., 
can only be successfully carried out by trained men in public 
disinfecting chambers. These disinfecting chambers ought to 
be established in every municipality of a certain size. They are 
as much a necessity as a hospital, to which they might be con- 
veniently attached. The increased cost would be made up by 
the lessened number of patients suffering from infectious 
diseases. We have in our Ambulance Brigade a good nucleus 
of men who could be trained in the methods by which proper 
disinfection of the different articles is carried out. The dis- 
infecting chambers must be of the most modern description, so 
that the articles to be disinfected be not damaged, neither should 
they be handled by untrained men. A moderate fee charged for 
the disinfection would very soon recoup for the outlay. As 
things stand at present infected furniture, bedding, clothes or 
other articles are either burned, if they are of low value, by 
conscientious people, or they are more or less successfully dis- 
infected, or what is most frequently the case, they are sent to the 
auction room spreading the infection to whosoever has not got the 
money to buy new things. Second-hand books are a frequent 
source of infection. Wetting the leaves in turning them over 
impregnates the book with the bacillus, which remains there for 
the purehaser. As we ought to look to our public bodies for a 
good example, may I suggest to the railway authorities that the 
cushions on the seats of the carriages, especially the sleeping 
cars, should be made removable, so that they may be readily dis- 
infected if the necessity for doing so arises. The substitution 
of linoleum for the footmats formerly in use has already been a 
step in the right direction. 

The space at my disposal does not allow me to deal 
exhaustively with the whole subject in one paper. I could only 
touch upon a few points. I do not wish to raise any unnecesary 
alarm, but really people ought to be made to think. It is 


BY E. HIRSCHFELD, M.D. 7 


pitiful to see almost daily fine lives that simply have been 
thrown away through sheer ignorance. But a brighter future is 
in store for us. Since the discovery of the tubercle bacillus and 
the modes of infection, the efforts for the prevention of consump- 
tion have led to an appreciable decrease in the mortality from 
the disease during the last 15 years. Man, not Nature, has 
created tuberculosis, and it behoves man to retrieve the errors 
of the past. 


NOTES ON SOME MODERN EXPLOSIVES. 


By T. McCALL, 


Assistant GOVERNMENT ANALYST. 


[Read besore the Royal Society of Queensland, 17th March, 1900.] 


” 


EXPLORATION IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA. © 


(wirH MAP.) 


By FRANK HANN. 
(Communicated By Masor A. J. Boyp, F.R.G.S.Q.) 


[Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 7th April, 1900.) 


T mapE two journeys to the north-western interior of Western 
Australia, where it was my intention to take up and stock any 
2ood country which I might meet with in the course of the 
trips, or rather, on my second trip, which I propose to describe 
more fully than the first, the latter being merely what may be 
described as a preliminary canter. I left Lawn Hill, on the Gulf 
of Carpentaria, on the 1st April, 1896, and travelling across to 
Western Australia without any unusual experiences, crossed the 
overland telegraph line in South Australia at Newcastle Waters. 
My party consisted of one white man, six Queensland blacks, 
and sixty-seven horses, nine of which belonged to my white 
companion, who went with me as far as Roebourne (W.A.), 
where we parted company, and from that time I had no white 
man in the party, but the Queensland black boys behaved 
well and rendered me many valuable services. After leaving 
the telegraph line, I made for the Victoria River, and on 
reaching it I ran it down as far as Victoria Station, which is 
situated on the banks of the Wickham, a branch or tributary of 
the Victoria. 

At the Victoria Depot I was able to get some needed rations, 
which are regularly brought there by the steamer from Port 
Darwin. The boat runs up the Victoria River to a point about 
ninety miles from the coast and eighty from the Station. 
Leaving the depot, I struck the Baines River, a tributary of the 
Victoria, and followed it till I arrived at Avarn Station. On the 
Victoria I saw a celebrated baobab tree, which was marked by Mr. 


10 EXPLORATION IN WESTEKN AUSTRALIA 


A. C. Gregory in 1856. In appearasce it somewhat resembles a 
gigantic bottle tree, the head bulging out into a huge ball-like top, 
with branches straggling out of it in all directions. This tree was 
about 100ft. in circumference at the base. After leaving Avern 
Station, I ran the Baines River to the head. I,should haye said 
that Avern is a very well-watered run. A boat can come up the 
river to within four miles of the head station, and land goods 
direct from the deck into a dray at the bar crossing the river, the 
water being there deep enough to allow the boat to lie close to 
land. My course now lay over the range, and during the day I 
struck a creek which joined the Negri River. about .seven miles 
from its junction with the Ord River, which latter flows into 
Cambridge Gulf at Wyndham, I followed up the Ord by way of 
Flora Valley to Hall’s Creek, and thence passed by Mt. Dockerell 
(a deserted gold camp), over sixty miles of poor desert country, 
where I got water, however. This is in the Kimberley district, 
in the midst of a gold-producing country, As I stated, I got 
away 60 miles to the south of Mount Dockerell, where I left 
most of my horses, and, taking three of my black boys and 
sixteen horses, I made on attempt to get through the desert to 
try to finda track to the head of the Oakover. The attempt 
nearly resulted in fatal disaster. We watered the horses at 
1 p.m. on Saturday, and from that time till Tuesday morning we 
found no water. My one chance of keeping life in the unfortunate 
animals was to give each a pannikin of water from our precious 
supply in the water bags. We poured the pannikin of water 
intoa plate, and allowed them to lick it up. It was a pitiful 
drink ; but it wet the poor brutes’ mouths, and was the means of 
saving their lives. 

Finding it of no use to persist in my object, I turned back, 
and on reaching Christmas Creek, after giving the horses a 
needed spell, I ran the creek down to where it joins the Fitzroy. 
This is good country, and I found stations all the way down the 
Fitzroy. The Quamby River flows into King Sound. Mr. 
K. Rose’s station is the first station met with on the Fitzroy. I 
met with great kindness from the squatters all along the line. I 
now followed the river down until I struck the telegraph line 
from Derby to Broome where the cable goes to Banjoewangie. 
Broome is a beautiful little place, and a great pearling station, 
much like Thursday Island, and population much the same as 
of that Island. Then followed the dreary 90 mile beach 
along an open plain, all sand, where water is obtained froma 
series of Government wells, which are, on an average, 


‘BY FRANK HANN. 11 


20ft. debp. The water is fair in many of them, but for want of 
constant use has bacome stagnant in a few. However, we got 
along very well in spite of the eternal red sand and, having 
passed the 90 mile beach, arrived at Condon, eighteen miles 
from De Grey’s station, on the De Grey River, named. by the 
late PF. T. Gregory. Then passed several stations before reaching 
Roebourne. All the settlers get water out of wells, all worked 
by blacks. At Roebourne I only remained long enough to 
replenish the ration bags, and then followed the Fortescue River 
up to’ the head, whence I struck north-east to the Narradine 
gold diggings. Now came another dry trip out into the desert 
country to the head of the Oakover, after crossing which I met 
Mr. Rudall!, who was out looking for some members of Wells’ 
expedition who were lost. Before I met Rudall, I had named a 
river, which I had struck about 100 miles north-east of the 
Oakover, the Rudall. Certainly, I was not the first to see it, but 
as I knew it had not been named, thought myself entitled to 
give it a name by which it might be known on the map, and it 
has since been charted on the official maps under that name. 

It is a peculiar stream, rising inland towards the west and 
losing itself in the desert towards the east. It is remarkable 
that there are no fish to be found in it. This little deviation 
completed I returned with my party to the Narradine, crossed 
the Oakover and went out to Mount McPherson, which was 
named by the late Mr. F. T. Gregory, who nearly perished in 
his expedition of 1861, having lost all his horses, had to 
walk back to their main camp, where he had only three horses 
left. I then set about erecting a trigonometrical cairn on 
Mount McPherson. 

Thad already lost several horses. Some died from poison bush 
and from other causes, three had their thighs broken owing to being 
kicked by other horses, one broke its shoulder by a fall, another 
broke its leg, two got their feet entangled with the spare hobbles 
round their necks and had killed themselves in their struggles. 
These were the saddest cases I have ever witnessed. Unable to 
extricate their feet they had evidently thrown themselves 
violently about during the night. One of them had torn hi: eye 
out and was fearfully lacerated about the head. To make the 
loss still greater, after leaving Mount McPherson, I came across 
a sinall water hole at the head of the Oakover. Thinking to 
refresh the,animals I put them in for a swim, and six were 
drowned. This event disgusted me with the trip, and I was 
about to return to Queensland, when at Derby I met Inspector 


12 EXPLORATION IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA 


Ord of the police. He advised me to go out to Mount Broome, 
at the foot of the Leopold Range, and prospect for gold, where 
diggers were getting very fair returns. 


I left Derby with six Queensland blacks, thirty-one horses, 
and two dogs, and arrived without any misadventure worth 
mentioning at Mt. Broome. I crossed the Leopold Range at the 
west side of the mountain, which I and my party ascended with 
great difliculty, owing to its steepness and roughness. During 
the ascent, two of my pack-horses fell and smashed the pack- 
saddles badly. Whilst we were repairing damages, we suddenly 
were surprised by hearing cooees from the wild blacks above us. 
Not wishing them to become acquainted with the smallness of 
my party, I directed a few rifle shots towards the voices, which 
had the effect of stopping the approach of the enemy. Arrived 
at the summit, I found, by my aneroid, that the height was 
1,800 feet above the level of my camp at the foot of the 
mountain, whilst the range is but 1,000 feet above it. As inay 
be seen by the map, the Lennard River or Creek lies at the back 
of Mt. Broome to the west. It is a splendidly watered creek, 
and there are a few patches of really good cattle country, 
averaging about three miles in width, bordering it. In some 
places, the range comes right down to the Lennard. On the 
north side of this creek, there is another big range, not quite so 


high as the Leopold, but nearly as rough. We managed, | 


however, to negotiate it, but our greatest trouble was getting 
down again on the other side. It was a pretty break-neck 
descent, but we reached the bottom without casualties. 


Here J found another splendid running ereek, and the 
surrounding country much resembled that of the Lennard, 
but it occupied a greater breadth. On the north side of the 
creek there is a range so precipitous as to be absolutely impass- 
able. Finding I could not cross it on the east, I skirted it for 
about five miles in a north-west direction, until 1 found I was 
approaching the end of it. Here I was able with difficulty to 
make the ascent, but I was well repaid for the arduous task of 
climbing its rocky sides. In the distance, about five miles 
away I observed a range, not very high, but what might be 
called a regular ‘‘terror.’’ Its sides were entirely composed of 
large, flat, slippery rocks, on which no horse could have found a 
footing. 

I forgot to say that I named the aforesaid creek the ‘“ Bell,” 
after Mr. Bell, of Derby. I could not then ascertain what 


- 


BY FRANK HANN. 13 


river it flowed into. It is certainly not into the Lennard. This 
point, however, I afterwards cleared up. 

From my position on the range, I could see that the 
country was open to the east. I therefore travelled in that 
direction, and in six miles came to a fine running stream emerg- 
ing from the big, rough range. There was some really first- 
class cattle country here. Two miles further saw us at the end 
of the first range, but the precipitous one before mentioned, was 
still on my right and stretching away east-south-east. The 
spring-like creek where I crossed it, flowed towards the south, 
and after a meandering course of three miles made a sudden 
bend, returning again towards the north. 

Near the place where I crossed it for the second time was 
another running spring. The two creeks are not more than two 
miles apart, and there is no range whatever. I observed that 
the country opened out and dipped towards the south-east, so I 
ran the creek towards the north for about ten miles and then 
camped. All the conntry round these streams is excellent 
cattle country, consisting of small plains and open forest. The 
formation is basaltic, but the country is not stony. The water 
on which we camped was evidently not permanent. 

Looking out towards the east-south-east of my camp, I 
noticed a high, precipitous, table-topped mountain. On break- 
ing up camp, I travelled towards it for four miles, and then 
came toa divide. (There is no range whatever on the north- 
west fall). Riding down the gully, I came upon a fine running 
spring, with stony basalt hills on each side, splendidly grassed, 
and no spinifex, Continuing the same course for about two 
miles, I traversed some rather rough country, after which it 
opened out again into plains. Seven miles further on I dis- 
covered a magnificent running spring, flowing south-south-east, 
containing a large quantity of fish. The big mountain was 
still about two miles ahead of me. Being in a favourable 
position for grass and water, I decided to camp. I 
then went off to climb the mountain. From the summit I 
could desery another high, precipitous, table-topped mountain, 
bearing south-south-east fifteen miles on the left bank of the 
creek. The creek I named the ‘‘ Adcock,” in compliment to 
Messrs. Adcock Bros., of Derby, who were very kind to me and 
proved exceedingly reasonable in the important matter of a 
supply of rations. 

The big isolated mountain I have named ‘ House,” after 
Dr. House, of Derby, to whom I was indebted for much kind- 


14 EXPLORATION IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA 


ness and assistance before I started on my trip. Viewed from 
any point, it stands out as a prominent mountain. 

On the following day, I went in the opposite direction to 
the creek three miles below my camp. The creek, the head of 
which I had seen before, I now found to flow into the Adcock, 
near a range on the west side. This range, although not the 
actual main precipitous range I have mentioned, forms a spur of 
it. The surrounding country is very good, being well-grassed 
and watered. The country along the creek for about a mile, is 
very rough, but it soon opens out into beautiful small plains, 
dotted with pink lily lagoons on the western side. The main 
range lies about two miles to the back. 

I now came upon the big mountain I had seen from Mt. 
House. It descended right into the Adcock on the left bank, 
and trended thence east by south. It much resembles Mt. 
House, but is not so isolated. I have named it ‘ Clifton,” 
after the Under Secretary for Lands at Perth. It appears to 
come very close to the creek on the east side for some distance, 
and the main range lies four or five miles back from the stream 
on the west. All between is splendid cattle country. About 
ten miles from Mt. Clifton, the creek appeared to vanish in a 
a gorge. Crossing the creek above Mt. Clifton, I went back, 
then crossed again to the west side, where I found a large 
creek coming in from the north-north-east. It has no 
running water, but there are some splendid water-holes in the 
reaches, whilst all the country is magnificent from a squatter’s 
point of view. The main range is distant fifteen miles from 
this spot. 

The creek I have named the Edkins, in remembrance of my 
excellent good friend Mr. Edkins, of Mount Cornish, North 
Queensland. Here, and on the Adcock, I met with large 
numbers of blacks, but they were as wild a lot as I ever saw 
and were quite unapproachable. 

I now travelled to the N.N. West, crossing the Adcock, and 
after proceeding some 10 miles struck another splendid running 
creek going south west. It appeared to take its rise in the 
ranges 10 miles above us. There is magnificent land on either 
bank. The banks are low, yet the country has no appearance of 
being subject to floods. The land, grass and timber are good, 
and in the creek there is an abundance of fine fish. Forming a 
camp, I went to the top of a hill close by, and obtained a good 
view of the surrounding country. I saw that the range inter- 
cepted the Adcock, and the creek last discovered. I therefore 


—————— 


“BY FRANK HANN. 15 


went back to my previous camp, and next day crossed the creek, 
tracing it to my present camp. I noted that for the whole 
distance, the country is of excellent description for stock raising, 
as indeed is the whole country about here. It was long after 
dark when I got back to camp. I was quite alone, and must 
say that it is not quite the safest thing to go out by 
oneself in blacks’ country, even although well armed. Still 
next day I again set out alone to run the creek down, and 
sent my party along the north bank whilst I traversed the 
southern one. 

After travelling about eight miles, I found that it ran into 
the one at the head of which I had camped on a previous 
occasion. I have named this creek the McLarty, after Mr. 
McLarty, of Nullagine, in recognition of his many good offices 
towards ine. The big creek I have named the ‘“ Isdell,’”’ after 
Mr. Isdell, of the Nullagine, for the same reason. For ten 
miles the Isdell runs through ideal cattle country, with a few 
basalt hills. Then it flows into a terrible gorge, which is 
naturally impassable. Finding a splendid camping ground, I 
determined to remain here for one day to look round me. The 
blacks were exceedingly numerous, but whenever one of our 
party came into view they fled. On the very next night, they 
came up and made a fire on the slope of Mt. Isdell. My boys 
declared they saw two blacks walk between us and the fire, but 
this I doubted for the blacks’ camp was too far away for exact 
observation of their doings. Still I thought it well to be on the 
safe side, so I had the fire put out and extinguished my lamp, 
for we formed too good a target for stray spears with these both 
alight. Having had a good look at the country for several miles 
round my camp I came to the conclusion that such country was 
much too good to lie idle as a mere hunting ground for wild 
blacks, so I packed up and set off for Derby with the intention 
of taking it up. 

I took a 8.8. East course and travelled along, skirting the 
high, rough range on our right, which I have called the Isdell 
Range. After 10 miles of pretty smart travelling I struck the 
McLarty at a splendid spring, then ran the creek up 3 miles 
and came across my outward tracks. Seeing no other or better 
way of return, and not wishing to lose time in finding another 
pass, I retraced my old tracks, intent only on getting to Derby 
as fast as I could that I might not be forestalled in taking up 
the grand country by anyone else who might perchance have got 
wind of it. 


16 EXPLORATION IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA 


I think the Isdell is the head of the Glenelg, and the 
Adcock either the head of the Fitzroy or a branch of it. We had 
found the second range so rough on our return journey that I 
thought I could not go wrong in trying for a better track. As 
it turned out the old proverb ‘‘The longest way round is the 
shortest way home’’ once more proved its truth. Here a basalt 
dyke cuts through the range, soI ran the gully into a fearful 
looking gorge. I think this is about the strangest part of 
Australia. On one side, only a few hundred yards back, there 
is a range over 1000 feet high and as rough as possible, with the 
creek running through the aforesaid ugly gorge. Then appear 
rippling streams, lagoons, and small grassy plains as good as 
any in Australia, and in contrast with these charming spots the 
rough, wretched ranges surrounding them. 

I decided to camp in a pretty spot on the creek, and as 
goon as all was settled my boys amused themselves by rolling 
big stones into the gorge, down whose precipitous sides the 
boulders rushed, bounding into the air, crashing through the 
brushwood and finally crashing in a thousand pieces on the 
rocks below. It was great fun for them, but I had to find a way 
out somewhere. Fortunately there was no sign of any blacks 
being about, although I saw plenty of their tracks. Perhaps 
the roar of the rocks rolling into the gorge made them believe 
that ‘‘debbil debbil ’’ was about and they had better keep close. 
Striking camp early next morning we passed along a stretch of 
country only a few hundred yards wide, having on one side a 
range 500 feet high and on the other one of over 1000 feet. 

I named the camp we had just left ‘‘Eva Camp,” after 
Mrs. Broadhurst, of the Pyramid, Roebourne, and the pass we 
were then in the ‘ Broadhurst Pass,” in recognition of the 
family’s courtesy to me. After we had negotiated some 3 
miles of the pass we reached a large running creek coming out 
of one of the gorges and entering another. Whilst I was 
examining this I heard a black cooee in the range to our left, a 
couple of hundred yards off. About a minute afterwards a great 
number showed themselves, all armed with spears and making 
a tremendous row, at the same time running towards us. As 
they looked dangerous, and outnumbered us probably by fifty to 
one, I let go a few shots to try and stop them, and told the boys 
to be quick about getting out a supply of cartridges, which were 
in the pack bags. I could see that the blacks were deter- 
mined to take advantage of what Julius Czsar called, 
‘‘the inferior position.’’ It was certainly a very dangerous 


BY FRANK HANN. 17 


position, for the blacks were high above us, and we were utterly 
ignorant of the way out of the gorge. The shots I fired had the 
effect of blocking them for a time, so I went alone down the 
creek below the second gorge, thinking we could get through 
there. As it looked feasible, I shouted to the boys to bring on 
the horses as quickly as possible. We passed under a wall of 
rocks, where the blacks had all got above us. Had they chosen, 
they could have either speared or stoned us all to death without 
our seeing them or being able to retaliate. However, we 
managed to pass the horses: into a clear spot, where they were 
safe from missiles. All this time the blacks were yelling, and 
evidently drawing nearer to us. I fired a few more shots on 
chance, and then went to look for a place where the creek was 
crossable. Seeing that it entered a third gorge, I tried to cross, 
and at once got my mare bogged in the mud, amidst reeds which 
rose high over my head. Dismounting, I succeeded in getting 
her out. Then I tried another place, with the same result, 
except that this time I was compelled to leave my mare and 
struggle out as best I could through the reeds between the rocks. 
The mare extricated herself at the same time. I saw there was 
not a moment to lose, as the blacks were closing on us in great 
numbers, so I shouted to the boys to bring along the horses and 
put them across the boggy creek as best they could. We got 
them through all right, but my mare on again trying to carry 
me over fell, and I got a thorough ducking. At last, however, 
we were all over in the open country. I did not seem to care 
much about our danger at the time, but had the blacks got on 
the rocks above us whilst we were floundering in the creek, some 
of us or our horses would undoubtedly have been speared. 

Our next proceeding was to roll some stones away to enable 
us to get to the Lennard from the Leopold Range. Wehad a 
deal of trouble here, as the horses would not follow, and were 
continually getting into trouble. However, all things come to 
an end, and at last we pitched camp on the river, and finally 
arrived safely at Derby. I then wired to Sir John Forrest, 
asking that Inspector Ord might accompany me to report on the 
country I had found. Sir John handed my telegram to the 
Commissioner of Police, who at once instructed Mr. Ord to 
accompany me. 

There is a very high, bold bluff on the McPherson Range 
which I have named the ‘‘ Bold Bluff.’ It lies seven miles from 
the west end of Mt. Broome. After passing Bold Bluff, Mt. 


Broome cannot be seen from any position east of north, for Bold 
B 


18 EXPLORATION IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA 


Bluff shuts it out, and a north-east line from Mt. Broome will 
pass right through the middle of the good country. My next 
business, on leaving Derby, was to see if I could find a dray track 
to a port, and to see if there was any more good country, but 
found I should not be successful by taking the Leopold Range 
en route, so I determined to try to find one to Secure Bay. I 
now returned to the west end of Mt. Clifton. For ten miles 
down the creek the mountain reaches to within one mile of the 
creek (Adcock) on the north-east -side, and the main range to 
within three miles on the south-west side. All between is good 
cattle country. There is a most singular mountain commencing 
here (where Mr. Ord, who had accompanied me from Derby, left 
me). Ihave named it Mt. Hamilton, after Mr. Hamilton, who 
was with Mr. Ord. I also named a big mountain after the latter 
gentleman. 

Looking at Mt. Hamilton one would almost take it to 
consist of a single mountain. At each end there is an isolated 
bluff about 600ft. high, precipitous on all sides, and between 
these lies the main mountain, also very precipitous, about four 
miles long, but only a quarter mile wide. At the upper end of 
the range, the Adcock takes sharp turns to the south-west, so 
that the Hamilton is between the Adcock and Mt. Clifton. I 
left it on my right. In four miles I came to the south-east end 
of Mt. Clifton. Here there are two peculiar peaks, which I have 
named the Estaughs, after Mr. Estaugh, of Derby. The 
Adcock now runs south-east. The main range, about a mile off, 
is here quite impassable. Some six miles from Mt. Hamilton I 
crossed a large creek, one might really term it a small river, 
flowing from the north-east. This I have named the Throssel, 
in honor of the Commissioner for Lands, who has written a very 
sensible, useful little book on ‘‘ Advice to Selectors.” 

Going forward another four miles I reached another very 
fine creek, running strongly, which, in honour of Mrs. 
Cunningham, relict of the late Mr. E, Cunningham, of Wood- 
house, Queensland, I named the ‘‘ Annie.’’ Another four miles. 
brought me to the junction of the Adcock and the Fitzroy. 
Half-a-mile below the junction the river enters a gorge, which 
appears to be fairly open, but terribly stony, with very high 
ranges on either side. At the head of the gorge there is a 
splendid water-hole. There is a little very good country between 
the rivers, but it is very little, A high and impassable 
range runs north-east and south-west on the south-east side of 
the Fitzroy. The river looks at this place as large as where I 


a 


BY FRANK HANN. 19 


struck it at its junction with Christmas Creek. The high range 
I have named the Sir John, in honour of Sir John Forrest, 
K.C.M.G, 


Another high, table-topped mountain, to which I have given 
the name of Mt. Brennan, after Mr. Brennan, of Derby, lies 
between the Annie and the Roy. All the country here is very 
stony. I may mention that, as I went along from mountain to 
mountain and from river to river, I took bearings by the 
prismatic compass wherever it was possible to do so, so that their 
relative positions may be laid down fairly correctly on the map. 

As we were descending the slope of Mt. Brennan we heard 
the blacks cooeeing in our immediate vicinity. My packs I had 
left at Roy Creek, close to the foot of the mountain, which we 
reached without being molested. But whilst we were at dinner, 
two blackfellows made their appearance. I knew it would never 
do to let them see the strength, or, rather, weakness, of my 
party, for 1 only had my six Queensland boys (one of whom 
shortly afterwards died, to my great regret), so I fired a few 
shots over their heads, and they beat a rapid retreat to the 
mountain. The blacks appear to be very numerous all through 
this country, and it behoves the traveller to be constantly on the 
look out for them. 


Ten miles past the gorge I was able to turn the range, 
and here, about Roy Creek, I found some really good country. 


I now directed my course east-south-east, and in six miles 
came again into the Sir John Gorge. It is a most romantic 
looking place. You can ride your horse right to the edge and 
drop a stone plumb, a sheer drop of 200 feet, into a 
magnificent lagoon, formed by the widening of the river. In 
shape, this gorge resembles a boomerang. To get completely 
round the range I had to travel four miles in a north-west 
direction, having splendid cattle country on my left. Once 
round, I shaped my course south-east, and after travelling six 
miles I arrived at a fine river coming from north-north-west. 
At a distance of about a mile south-east of where I struck it, it 
forms a junction with the Fitzroy, about half-a-mile above the 
Sir John Gorge, which at this spot appears to have been cut by 
the action of water through the solid rock. Inow left my camp, 
and went up the south-east side of the Fitzroy. The Sir John 
Range I observed to lie at a distance of about a mile from the 
river all the way. As for the country, it is tolerably good, but 
fearfully stony, rolling basalt predominating. 


20 EXPLORATION IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA 


I followed the river for ten miles, and found that it came 
out of another gorge, impassable, but nothing to compare in 
wildness, ruggedness, and savage grandeur with the Sir John 
Gorge. To the former I gave the name of Warton Gorge, after 
Mr. Warton, Resident Magistrate at Broome. The range here I 
found trending to the north-west. To it, also, | have given the 
name of Warton. Subject to Sir John Forrest’s permission, I 
have called the high range on the south-west of the Adcock the 
Lady Forrest Range. 

These ranges form three sides of a gigantic square, through 
which I think it would be possible to pass to the left of the 
Warton Gorge. Far away up the gorge is a bluff range, and 
judging by the look of the formation of the hills in that direction, 
I think that good cattle country is pretty sure to be found there. 

On my return I took the opposite side of the river Fitzroy, 
and I could see in the back country some small plains, splendidly 
grassed, and not so stony as that last seen. Both these rivers 
are large and appear to be much of the same size. 

At the point where I first struck the river, I found a treg 
marked ‘ R.B. 44,” by Mr. Robert Buttons, the 44 standing for 
the 44th camp. He has been a great traveller and explorer, and it 
is a pity he has not published any account of his explorations in 
these regions, for he is an excellent man for such work. 

The river from the north-north-west falling into the Fitzroy, 
which I had just discovered, I called the Phillips, in recognition 
of the assistance afforded to me by the Commissioner of Police, 
and for which my best thanks are due to him. 

I now ran the river up, and after going seven miles I 
dropped on a third river flowing from the Warton Range, and 
promptly assigned to it the name of Traine, after Mrs. Traine, 
of Condon, as she was the first native born Western Australian 
I had ever met, and a very nice, pleasant lady I found her. I 
ran this river up, and found that, as per usual, it came out of 
one of those tantalising, impassable gorges, where I also found 
numbers of blacks. who proved to be exceedingly wild. I then 
got back, and running the Phillips up, found that at ten miles 
from its junction with the Fitzroy the Warton Range came down 
to it, whilst there was a chain of stony hills running along its 
left bank for about six miles, when they break off. The river at 
this place is a quarter mile wide, and I doubt if in all Australia 
there is a river better adapted for watering stock. It is always 
running with clear water, has low banks, no bogs, the margins 
solid sand, and the stream opening up every now and then into 


BY FRANK HANN. 21 


large water-holes, all of which are full of crocodiles, a harmless 
species, about 6 to 8 feet long, which live principally on fish. 
Travelling about twenty miles up this beautiful stream I saw, 
about half-a-mile from it, on the left bank, a splendid small 
lake, about three miles in circumference, nearly round, and very 
deep. This I have christened the Gladstone Lake, after the late 
Mr. W. E. Gladstone, Premier of England. On the lake, and on 
the river, I found geese, ducks, water hen, and many other kinds 
of game in abundance. 


The country about the river is rather sandy, but back from 
the river, towards the south-west, there are splendidly grassed 
_ open plains. 

The remarkable thing about Gladstone Lake is that no river 
runs into it, nor has it any visible outlet. In all probability it 
is fed from underground sources, and supply and evaporation 
are probably equal. 


This is the most astonishing country for rivers, creeks, and 
lagoons. They intersect the whole country, and would be an 
immense boon to the more arid and rainless tracts eastward 
towards South Australia and Queensland, but it is difficult 
country to get at, at any event, over the Leopold Range. The 
Warton Range breaks away a little here, and I think a pass 
could be found through it by which Hall’s Creek could be 
reached. 


We now came to the commencement of another mighty 
range, running east and west. This I have named the Phillips 
Range. To a large creek coming out of the Warton and Phillips 
Ranges | have given the name of M‘Namara, after Mr. M‘Namara, 
of Wallal (Ninety Mile Beach). So far the river runs from 
north-west by north. 


By aneroid I found Lake Gladstone to be 750 feet above 
Derby, the Fitzroy 700 feet, and Phillips Gorge 800 feet. 

There is very fine timber on the river for station work. It 
consists mainly of coolibah, box, plum, gum, and magnificent 
bloodwood, bauhinia, currajong, and baobabs, which are really 
splendid. I measured a solid one, which rose perpendicularly to 
about 100 feet. I found it to be nearly 15 feet in diameter and 
45 feet in circumference. On the plains mimosa predominates. 

Forty-three miles from its junction with the Fitzroy, the 
M‘Namara River comes out of one of the usual impenetrable 
gorges in the Phillips Range, which is very high, very rugged, 
and I think impassable. There is a splendid water-hole at this 


22 EXPLORATION IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA 


gorge, and eight miles below it I found a large creek coming in 
from the north-east, which | have called the Urqubart, after Mr. 
Urquhart, of Lagrange Bay. 

I took a number of bearings from the top of a pretty little 
mountain situated two miles below the gorge. This I named 
Mt. Caroline, after my late sister. Here a most splendid creek 
comes in from the west at the south side of the Phillips Range, 
with clear, permanent, running water. The country on its south 
side is by far the best I have yet seen in Western Australia. 

Below Mt. Caroline a creek, which, it will be remembered, 
I called the Edkins on my last trip, rises in the Phillips Range, 
and flows into the Adcock above Mt. Clifton, a most remarkable 
circumstance in such high country as this. 

I camped on the west branch of the Edkins, eight miles 
west of the Phillips Gorge, about north-east by east from Mt. 
Broome. A fine running stream flows out of the Phillips 
Range, with stony basalt hills all round, which, however, are 
well-grassed. There must be a great number of blacks about 
here, for we could see their tracks and camps in every direction, 
and they were then camped a short way from us up the gorge. 
A few hundred yards below us was a blacks’ graveyard, in which 
I then counted eight graves, each covered with stones. On two of 
them there must have been some tons of stones. Wood is placed on 
top of the stone, I have, in all my travels in unexplored 
Australia, never seen anything like this before. I must say I 
think the wild blacks of this country are a far better class than 
those we have in Queensland. 

On the following morning I went down to the graves, and 
counted thirteen of them. Saddling up, we travelled west along 
the foot of the Phillips Range, skirting the banks of a fine 
running creek, bordered by stony, basalt hills, splendidly grassed. 
I thing I saw here struck me as very strange. In a certain 
locality on the side of the Phillips Range, there are some 
thousands of tons of basalt overlying the sandstone, looking 
exactly as if it had been violently thrown there. No other basalt 
is nearer to it than 100 yards, on the other side of the creek. 

That day one of my boys picked up a black’s skull in the 
grass, a strange object to find in such a position. On my return 
to camp I found they had stuck iton a tree and made a target 
of it. At night I camped on the Isdell, a splendid running creek 
which I named on my last trip, when I crossed it thirty miles 
lower down. It comes out of a gorge two miles above this camp. 
Mt. Broome from this camp bears 250deg. 50 miles. Of course, 


BY FRANK HANN. 23 


it is a blank on the map, but the bearing fixes its position. The 
Phillips Range now goes back about six miles south-west from 
the Isdell, and there joins the Isdell Range, which is a spur of 
the Leopold. Thus it will be seen that all this country is, so to 
speak, fenced in by ranges, and there is actually only one pass 
by which stock may be brought into it from Hall’s Creek, and 
thatis down the M‘Namara. I never saw better watered country 
in my life, and such splendid water—better could not be found 
anywhere. The Isdell flows west from here, and I intended to 
find out where it went to. At the Divide, which is really a 
splendid plain, I found the elevation by my aneriod to be 1200 
feet above Derby. Mt. Ord, which is one of the Leopold group, is 
by far the highest mountain about. Mt. House is the most remark- 
able, as it stands out conspicuously alone in its glory. Mt. 
Clifton is the largest in extent, havine a leneth of some seventeen 
miles by a breadth of ten miles, yet, as far as I could see, there 
is not one single track by which a horse could be taken to the 
summit. Here I saw more blacks’ tracks than I have ever seen 
in Western Australia before. These tracks were as broad as if 
made by a mob of cattle. All the country along the range at 
the head of the Adcock was on fire, set alight no doubt by the 
blacks for hunting purposes. I could easily have found their 
camp, but did not wish to attempt it, as I thought they, being 
so numerous, would show fight, and in that case I should have 
been compelled to drop some of them, a thing I particularly 
wished to avoid, so we passed peacefully on our way. It is very 
cold here now, the thermometer in the morning registering 
36deg. Fabr. That night we camped on the Isdell again, 
having got over the Phillips Range. It was very rough work 
reaching the top, which the barometer showed to be 1600 feet 
above Derby. Our camp was situated 1200 feet above that town. 
In one of the gorges on this side of the range, we got two of 
our horses bogged, but we took their packs off and they quickly 
struggled on to dry land. This creek now came from the 
west, whilst forty miles below us it flowed towards the west, 
when the country opens out once more. I went by myself 
down the creek to see what became of it, and after riding 
for eight miles, I found it entering another gorge, where 
I saw a number of blacks’ fires. As darkness was 
rapidly coming on, I decided to give them a wide berth, 
and it was pitch dark as I rode campwards. Riding . 
slowly along, I saw a small fire which I took to be our camp 
fire, and thought it strange I could hear no horse bells, All at 


24 EXPLORATION IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA 


once I saw the fire disappear, and I became aware that what I 
had taken for my camp fire, was a black’s firestick. I fired a 
shot, when the blacks shouted and cleared. They must 
have seen me going down the creek, and went travelling off. 
I confess this gave me a start, for, as I had seen their fires in the 
gorge, I certainly never suspected they would be so close to our 
camp. My boys hearing my shot fired a shot or two in reply. 
Iwas glad to get in with a whole skin, and decided that it 
would not do to go travelling about alone in the dark, with 
such numbers of apparently noctivagous blacks in the 
neighbourhood. 

This is such a very interesting country that I could write a 
book on it. It was a perfect revelation to me, and certainly will 
be to others, especially in the eastern colonies, who believe West 
Australia to consist mainly of sandy deserts, tireless spinifex 
plains and salt’swamps and lakes. I much regret that Inspector 
Ord was not with me to see this magnificent country and report on 
it. I think when it is surveyed, my descriptions and bearings 
- will be found fairly correct, as I have a good idea of surveying 
and of the country I write about. 

On hoth sides of the Phillips Range there are some very 
fine pine trees, as well as other useful timber. 

I now travelled south-east by south, and after covering ten 
miles, I struck a splendid running creek or river (I am inclined 
to call it a river). The divide between the two rivers is quite 
unnoticeable and consists of open forest country, and small 
plains splendidly grassed ; there I saw the first iron-bark trees I 
had seen in West Australia. 

The river (which I have called the Barnett, after Mr. 
Barnett, of the Lennard) runs along the base of a huge 
mountain which [ have also named Mt. Barnett, a branch of the 
Phillips Range. It runs north and south, and I ran it down for 
eight miles south-east, and then camped. Leaving the camp in 
charge of the boys, I went on four miles along the mountain, 
following the Barnett till it joined the Phillips, which forms here 
a fine river, running very strong. It appears to come out of a 
gorge between Mt. Barnett and another big mountain I have 
called Mt. Harris, after Mr. Harris, of Broome. 

One mile below the junction, there is a large creek, coming 
from the south-east, with clear running water. This I have also 
named the Harris. A mile further down, the Phillips seeks the 
inevitable gorge, which appears to have been cut through the 
solid rock. I think this is the strangest country in Australia for 


BY FRANK HANN. 25 


gorges. I intend, if all goes well, to have the finest of them 
photographed. No one, without seeing them, would believe that 
such places exist in the country. 

Between the two gorges there are 4 miles of excellent cattle 
country. Having travelled 10 miles up the Harris I returned 
to camp, which was then situated at 1150 feet above the level 
of Derby. Next day I went back under Mount Barnett. This 
is a most picturesque mountain. All over the summit is a 
forest of grand pine trees. The red precipitous sides also have 
all kinds of trees growing on them. For 14 miles I travelled 
along its base, and the same vegetation was everywhere apparent. 
The Barnett River I now found left the mountain and crossed to 
the big range that runs N.E. and 8.W. This isa terribly rough 
range, and I have named it the Caroline after my late sister. 
Never did I see such country for grass and water as between 
these ranges. It would need a hand that can wield a pen better 
than I can to adequately describe it. Right opposite my camp 
was a magnificent clump of immense pine trees, and behind the 
pines a beautiful little plain—an ideal place for a home- 
stead. Two miles below this beautiful camp there is a 
fine, large, running creek coming in from the Caroline 
Range. This I have dubbed the Manning, in honour of Mr. 
Manning, of the Lennard. As usual it comes out of another 
impassable gorge, where the ranges are only 4 miles apart. 
Getting to camp early I saddled a fresh horse and had a ride 
round, taking bearings. Thus I saw a good deal of the country. 
I always do this. I make a point of getting early into camp if 
possible and then ride out into the surrounding country, getting 
back at dark. At this camp my boys caught a large quantity of 
fish. We were then 1200 feet above Derby. 

Leaving the Barnett River I travelled along the foot of 
Mount Barnett on a generally N.. course for the first 10 miles. 
The country is everywhere good, and the river runs along the 
foot of the Caroline Range all the way, coming out of a gorge 
there. Mount Barnett did not seem so high, but still had the 
same grand appearance. I travelled on for 12 miles more and 
then struck a nice looking creek opening into Phillips River. 
It was not running, but held permanent water. Above us all 
the country was on fire, but in our fine open camp we were quite 
safe. For the last 12 miles the country is not so good, stunted 
tea-trees predominating ; but at the divide the timber is grand, 
consisting of forests of pine, messmate, woolly butt, and grand 
ironbark. I had now followed round Mount Barnett for 40 


26 EXPLORATION IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA 


miles and had found only one place where a horse could 
possibly be taken up. The mountain still continues, and not a 
single creek, not even a spring, comes from it, which is a most 
strange thing in this land of springs, creeks and rivers. When 
the country is taken up and stocked the blacks are sure to be 
troublesome, speaking from my experience of taking up new 
land in Queensland. 

While I was at work plotting my map that day, I had my 
boots and socks off, with my feet against a tree. Suddenly a 
long kind of snake, new to me, came crawling over my bare 
feet. He was a wonderfully quick fellow, and the boys had a 
job to kill him. According to Dr. Krefft, of Sydney, it was a 
most deadly one. I counted its labial scales, and found only 
five, which showed it to be one of a venomous species. It was 
a kind of slate colour, and about 5 feet long. There was one 
peculiar circumstance about this adventure. I did not feel the 
reptile bite me, in fact, it could not have done so, yet on my leg 
were two small spots of blood, looking exactly as if they had 
oozed from the punctures made by the venom fangs, but no 
puncture could I find. At all events, I suffered no inconvenience 
from his snakeship’s visit. 

This camp lay about 80 miles north-east by north from 
Mt. Broome. 

I followed the creek above mentioned towards the east for 
five miles, to where it entered the Phillips River above the 
Barnett and Harris Gorges. All the way was good cattle 
country, although somewhat sandy. The river I found to be 
running stronger than ever. I decided to run it up. For one 
mile above the gorge it is bordered by Mt. Harris on the left 
bank, then it takes up the running of Mt. Barnett and trends 
away to the east. A fine creek comes to it from the north-east, 
which I have called the Bella. The river flows from the 
north. The country is sandy, but for six miles is still good 
cattle country. The river now emerges from a gorge, a low one 
this time, and by keeping back from the water I managed to get 
above it, and continued to run the river up. The ranges on 
both sides were fearfully stony, but by crossing and re-crossing 
I succeeded in getting along. I pitched my camp nine miles 
from the gorge. The river was running still stronger, and I 
wondered where all the water came from. I found this a very 
bad camp for the horses, but they had to make the best of it. 

Taking a boy with me, I got to the top of a big mountain 
close by. It was terribly rough scrambling, but we got up. 


BY FRANK HANN. 27 


Arrived at the top I found I would have to climb a tree to enable 
me to take bearings. The most suitable tree had a straight, 
smooth trunk, and I had a tough job to climb it, as my climbing 
days were over long ago. But I sent the boy up first, then, with 
my saddle surcingle, I managed to get up. Well was I repaid 
for my trouble, as I got a splendid sight. This is by far the 
biggest mountain in the neighbourhood, as it rises from such 
high ground, the camp being 1500 feet above Derby and the 
mountain 600 feet above the camp. I have given it the name 
of Mount Elizabeth, in memory of my late mother. It will 
form a most important trigonometrical station when the 
country comes to be surveyed. I could get no bearing from 
south-east almost to north, as it happened to be a long, low 
range all the way; but I got the bearings of five other big 
mountains, one of which appeared to be about fifty miles away 
on a bearing of 322 deg. From south-east to north the country 
did not appear to be very rough. 

Next day I shod seven horses and made a start at 8 a.m., 
and ran the river for 10 miles on a N.W. course. Along the bed of 
the streain the travelling was fair, but very rough on the land. 
I found myself confronted here by my old enemy—an impassable 
gorge, so as the river was coming from N.W. and I wanted 
to get West I did not attempt to get round the gorge, but turned 
back for three miles and camped, so as to get time to finish up 
my plotting. I made this camp to be about 80 miles 8.E. from 
the mouth of Prince Regent River. I had no idea the river 
would come round as it did, to the West. It looked as if it were 
going 100 miles more in the same direction. I feel sure there 
is no other river so good as this in Australia to water stock at 
It has high banks, no bogs, is always running, and can be 
crossed at every few hundred yards. Here there are most 
splendid cajuput trees. 

Three blacks showed up to-day with spears, but a few 
harmless shots soon sent them to the right-about. I regretted 
that I had not time to follow this grand river to the head ; 
but I had to get away to the coast for I feared to run short 
of horseshoe nails. I had only 10lb. weight at starting and 
2cwt. of horseshoes. What with shoeing horses every day, 
owing to rough country, my supplies in this line had dwindled 
alarmingly. 

I went up the range on the W.S.W. side and found the 
climbing rough; still, it was better than I expected. I travelled 
5 miles before reaching the top, which is 1750 feet above Derby. 


28 EXPLORATION IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA 


Then I travelled N.W., 2 miles through very level pine forest, 
the pines being very high, and struck a gully going in the same 
direction in open country, where it turned into a fine running 
creek. Five miles further on a creek came in from N.W. As 
the country was so level I ran it up for a mile and then 
concluded [ was on the same creek as before, but they junctioned 
and then ran South. One mile further on it entered a gorge. 
I climbed a pine tree, and following it as far as I could with my 
eye it appeared to continue to flow South through the gorge. 
I believe it to be the head of the Barnett. Here I found a kind 
of stone charged with mineral. As I was smashing it with a 
piece of rock one of the stones hit me on the knee and caused 
me most agonising pain fora time. I had to camp very early 
and doctor the limb. I considered that I was then 1700 feet 
above Derby, and that I should soon commence a big descent. 

We crossed the Caroline Range at 2,000 feet above 
Derby. The travelling was very rough, but still it 
might easily have been worse. We then camped on a creek 
running west, surrounded by mountains. One of my blacks 
shot a kind of parrot that I had never seen before. I had it 
skinned for the purpose of future identification. I then reckoned 
that I was about 60 miles from the mouth of the Prince Regent 
River. Although we were still in a wonderful country for water, 
the creeks contain no black bream, such as we eaught in 
abundance on the other side of the range. We crossed several 
running creeks, and I found that the creek we had 
camped on the previous night was the head of the Isdell. 
Climbing a rocky monntain, I got a number of sights, 
getting even Mt. Ord and Mt. Bold Bluff. The former must be 
a very high mountain, as it showed up splendidly. The latter 
TI could make out with my glass. It is on a bearing of 45 from 
Mt. Broome, Mt. Ord bearing 85, Mt. Ord from Mt. Bold Bluff 
1111, Mt. Ord from Rocky Mountain 196, Bold Bluff 205, so if 
so wished the position may be fixed. The creek runs north- 
west, and the country it passes through is fearfully rough. The 
water, on the other hand, is splendid. 

Owing to the interposition of gorges, I was unable to 
run the creek down, so I travelled north-west, and striking a 
gully running in that direction, I followed it for five miles. On 
this creek L saw the finest Leichhardt tree I have ever seen. 
I followed the creek till it entered a larger one coming from the 
east. [ran it to the west for two miles and then found that it 
junctioned with the creek we bad camped on. I ran it down 


BY FRANK HANN. 29 


north-west over four miles of splendid cattle country. Going to 
the top of another rocky mountain, I succeeded in getting some 
bearings of a number of high mountains to the west of north. 
The creek then went into a gorge and for twelve miles we had 
fearfully rough country, nearly breaking the legs of two horses 
amongst the rocks. One horse had a bad fall. In the gorge 
the blacks’ fires were visible. 

It would require a man greedy of trouble who would want 
rougher country to travel over. We went down the range, and 
struck the creek again. It had now assumed the dimentions of 
young river, a large creek from the south-west having joined it. 
The plains here have plenty of mimosa but the grass is coarse, 
and the surrounding ridges are all basaltic, causing the horses 
to lose a great many shoes. 

I now moved the camp four miles down the river where I found 
sood country but the ranges came down rather close. Another 
large creek came in here from the east, which I have named the 
Charnley, after Mr. Wallace Charnley, of the Nullagine. The 
big creek I called the Maudie. Here my boys caught ninety 
black bream. There must be a great number of blacks abou, 
here, as I saw several of their fires towards the south, one of 
them quite close to our camp. There was still a big range to 
descend, as my aneroid showed this camp to be 1000 feet above 
Derby. 

Running the river down for 4 miles I found another nice 
little river coming in from N.N.E. Judging from the amount 
of water that came down it in a flood it must run a long 
distance. This I named the James, after Mr. James, of the 
Cable Station, Petang. Another river comes in from the North, 
8 miles below the James through a fearful looking gorge. On 
the N.E. side of the river the range continues for the whole 
distance, and there are basalt ridges on the opposite side. I 
called this river the Pearson, after the Police-Sergeant at Derby. 
The grass here was very plentiful, but coarse, and there are 
many high mountains which I believe I have placed fairly 
correctly. One I named after my late brother, Mount 
William, the other Mount Grosser. This is a most re- 
markable hill rising like a castle. I doubt if anyone could 
reach the top even on foot. Twenty miles back from the river 
rises a hill which I named Mount Shadforth, after Mr. Robert 
Shadforth, of Queensland, who helped me in the hour of need. 
Another I entitled Mount Kerr, in honour of Mr. Kerr, of the 
Nullagine. Mount Nicholson and Mount Blythe were also named 


80 EXPLORATION IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA 


by me after Mr. Nicholson, of the Derby police, who was with 
me for some years, and Mr. Blythe respectively. I then had to 
shoe twenty horses, and in the evening I put shoes on four more. 

The river now came round to the 8.W. for four miles, after 
which its course was generally West. For 8 miles the country 
is good, but fearfully stony. I now had to leave the river as its 
banks were too rough to travel over. By keeping South I hoped 
to get down the range. The shoes were being lost wholesale, 
the nails were nearly all gone, and thereseemed to be a bad time 
looming ahead for unshod horses. The flood marks here were very 
high. Aswerodealong the country wassomething fearful for stones, 
and the river had cut clean through a big range. To look along 
that range it would appear incredible that any river could cut 
its way through it, yet it has done so. The range is covered 
with immense stones, slippery as glass, affording no footing for 
a horse. I never saw basalt hills so high before. They are 
covered with splendid grass, and spinifix does not appear. 
Needless to say that the country is splendidly watered. I at 
last ran out of horseshoe nails and had lost a number of shoes 
which I could not replace. Here the big range appears to end. 
I noticed thousands of a new kind of palm growing 
on the range, and my boys cut a number down to 
get at the succulent head which forms a splendid vegetable, 
something like cabbage. This range I have named the Edkins, 
in remembrance of my partner in Queensland. To the South 
there was a very high tableland, of which I had seen 
but 20 miles, and have called it the Synott Tableland, after 
Mr. Synott, of Queensland, who helped me on my trip out to 
Western Australia. A high mountain I named the Kennie, 
after Mr. Kennie, of the Cable Station, Broome. I noticed 
blacks’ tracks all about us, and we were unfortunately 
camped in a very bad place, 450 feet above Derby. 

The following day’s travelling was much the same as I had 
lately experienced, fair but stony, with grand grass and springs 
everywhere. In years to come this will be grand cattle country. 
I left the river, hoping to get round the range. There is only 
one way to get on to this river from Hall’s Creek, and that is 
down the James River. 

Next day I ran the creek down in a west-south-west 
direction, but had to keep out, as the country was so fearfully 
stony. The creek I found to pass into one of the worst gorges 
I had seen on the trip. I camped on a fine spring, having 
crossed three running streams in six miles, and meeting with 


a 


BY FRANK HANN, ol 


some patches of splendid country. Leaving camp, according to 
my usual custom, I went out to look for tracks, and found a 
splendid sandy stretch between two high ranges, where I thought I 
was going to get through, but a spring blocked me. However, 
I managed it, partly, and in spite of the long reeds. 
I had to lead my horses, and as I went along I burnt a track 
to make my return easier. Then my mare got bogged, and the 
grass was over my head, and I fully expected she and I were 
going to be burnt to death, and would have been had there been 
any wind, as the flames were as high as 20 feet, but by great 
exertion I got her out on the burnt land. I consider I was in a 
very dangerous position on that occasion. After all, I found I 
could not get through, so I returned to camp, got a fresh horse, 
and tried another place, which also proved quite impassable. 
There was nothing left but to go back and try a_ place 
Isaw from a hill out towards the east. I intended to find 
a way to the sea if it was at all possible, for some 
day this will turn out a grand country. It will grow 
anything, I believe. We were then nearly out of flour, 
and had neither sugar nor beef, and could find nothing to 
shoot. The horses were in a fearful state, and things wore a 
very unpleasant appearance. Still, I had to find a way out, sol 
had all the horses put over the creek, which was a most trouble- 
some job. I went ahead, with the pack following me. At 
sundown I camped, and whilst making the vamp fire I heard the 
wild blacks close by, so I went over a low ridge 300 yards away, 
and there saw a great mob camped. I got right on to them 
before they saw me, when they all bolted, some catching up their 
spears. I got some fine spear heads in that camp. When the 
packs came up I moved half-a-mile back, and camped on the 
open, where I thought we should be safe. I should state that I 
left a tomahawk and some other things in the blacks’ camp in 
place of the spear heads I had taken. There are two running 
creeks here, and the range I have named the Artesian Range, as. 
it is so full of water. We had now only four days’ flour rations 
left, and the horses were in a woeful plight owing to the want of 
shoes. The blacks we saw here are not nearly so modest as those 
we saw in the desert east of the Oakover; they could not 
possibly be wilder, but the gins all had acovering about 3 inches 
by 3 inches, made of booty’s wool, and the tie round their bodies 
was made of gins’ hair. The former had nothing whatever in their 
camps which had been got from the whites. Their knives and 
tomahawks were all of stone. But here the blacks use no. 


32 EXPLORATION IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA 


covering of any kind; they had a piece of a horseshoe rasp 
and some iron they had made into tomahawks, and I faney they 
had half a horseshoe made into the same weapon. 

Next day I went to the blacks’ camp and left some knives 
there, but the people had not returned. Then, with a boy, I 
followed the Artesian Range, and finding a creek coming out of 
it, ran it up and pitched on a spot foracamp. I sent the boy 
back to bring the camp on, and I went on up the creek. 
Getting into a spur of the Edkin Range, I saw a place where I 
thought I could get through on to the river. I determined that 
on the following day I would leave the camp where it was, take 
one boy and try to get over. Finding next day that I could not 
take horses up the Edkin Range, I walked four miles to the top 
before coming to the gorge. The range I found to be 1000 feet 
above Derby, and it was 400 feet to the bottom of the gorge. 
The river appeared to run through a continuous gorge and to 
turn afterwards towards the north. A high table-land mountain 
loomed up some ten miles away, which appeared to run north 
and south. There was evidently no possible way of getting to 
the sea in this direction at least, so I had to get back and try to 
the southward. 

Nature has been a wonderful engineer here. She has made 
the ranges terribly rough, and forgot to leave any room for the 
rivers to pass, so she set to work to cut a passage for them 
through the ranges. 

Having struck my old tracks on a south-west course, I 
followed them for eight miles, then changed the course to south- 
south-west for two miles and camped, having crossed two 
running creeks. This country I have already described. I now 
went ahead and got on to a divide, and then saw that the 
country beyond was terribly rough. One big mountain I saw, I 
named Mt. Philp, after the Hon. R. Philp, Premier of Queens- 
land, who has proved a true friend to me atall times. Itis a 
very remarkable and prominent object. Another big mountain 
which I have had in sight for several days, I called Mt. Smith 
in honour of the Governor of West Australia. 

The horses were now in a dreadful state for want of shoes ; 
however, I had to go on at all hazards. I ran the creek up to the 
southward, leaving the big table-topped range close on my left. 
For ten days this range has been on my left hand with no 
apparent break in it. This is the Synott Range-I mentioned 
previously. To the right were very high stony basalt cliffs. I 
now struck the head of a creek going south and ran it down for 


BY FRANK HANN. 33 


six miles, where a large creek came out of the Synott Range. 
Here I camped and went on to a hill, whence I saw the creek 
cut through the range and running north-north-west. After 
dinner I tried for a way out to the south-east, and in four miles 
struck a nice river, which I have called the Sprigg, coming out 
of the same range. It does not appear to be a long one, but 
evidently by the flood marks, it brings down a vast quantity of 
water. I now made a grand discovery, for I found I had 50lbs. 
of flour in one of the packs that I knew nothing of, so J was well 
off for rations of that description for a week or more. On the 
whole of this trip I saw no auriferous country. 

My pack horses had so far travelled 679 miles since leaving 
Derby, but I think I must have actually travelled over 1000 
miles, taking deviations and side journeys into consideration. 

Sending my horses over my previous day’s track to camp on 
the river, I took one boy with me, and went up the range to Mt. 
Phillip. It was avery tough job to get up. On reaching the 
top, where I went over five miles of basalt country, with a creek 
running through it, I then went on to Mt. Philp, 1600 feet 
above Derby. On the way back, I ran down a creek, over rough 
country. Herel think a dray track could be made for a few 
hundred pounds. The road would pass under a high bluff about 
400ft. in height, with two miles of very rough range to cross. 
On reaching my camp, I found that my party had killed a 
kangaroo and five wild ducks. They also had caught a lot of 
fish and one craw fish, and had gathered a quantity of lilies. 
Five pups had been presented to the party by our remaining dog 
—these, however, were not eatable. 

There is here a fine patch of good country, but only about 
twenty four square miles in extent. The ranges close in, and 
the water is excellent. Since leaving Mt. Broome I had 
travelled over 590 miles of country, and in no place was water 
more than ten miles apart. 

Having burnt the grass, I then found an easier track up the 
range, and also saw that a dray track could be made. Followed 
willingly by the poor horses, I succeeded in getting a good camp 
at the foot of Mt. Philp, which bears 146 deg. from Mt. Broome 
and 120 deg. from Mt. Ord. 

I now tried to find a track through the other part of the 
range, and discovered a most wonderful pass, where the creek 
goes through a deep gorge. Away back from this gorge there is 
a pass going up one gully and down another. As I was alone, 
and it was getting late, I deferred trying to go through till next 

c 


34 EXPLORATION IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 


day, when | was entirely successful, getting through wonderfully 
well. A really good dray road could be made over this pass. It 
is about eleven miles from one side to the other, and if so in- 
clined a person could travel only a mile a day and get permanent 
water at every camp. Standing on a range four miles from the 
gorge after getting through, it was difficult to make out the 
exit, as it looked like a perfect steep bluff, with no break in it. 

As soon as we left the range we found the country changed 
rapidly for the worse. I have not seen the Barker, but I think 
this must be the same river, judging by the course and the strong 
running. Next day I ran the creek down, and camped to the 
right of some granite hills in a gorge. It was the worst camp I 
had yet had on the trip, as far as the horses were concerned. 
The creek here does not run, and the water is bad. Running 
the creek down for four miles, we at last got out of the gorges. 
Then came twenty miles of very sandy country. I never saw 
such imimense granite hills; some of them were hundreds of 
feet high, and all solid rock. That night we had to dig holes in 
the sand to water our horses. What a change from the country 
we had just passed through! We were camped on one of the 
strangest formations in the world, I should think. There is a 
line of very hard, sharp limestone, only 100 yards wide in places, 
and here and there from 200 to 300 feet high. It rises out of 
the level, sandy country, and runs generally north-north-west 
and south-south-east for, I believe, about 150 miles. I should 
like to hear Mr. Maitland’s opinion of it when he sees it some 
day. 

At last I arrived at Mr. Blythe’s place, on the Lennard, 
and my troubles were over. 


THE BURBUNG OF THE WIRADTHURI TRIBES. 


By R. H. MATHEWS, LS. 


Assoc. Mrms. Soc. p’AnTHROP. DE Paris. 


[Read before the Royal Soctety of Queensland, 7th April, 1900.) 


A parrR by me under the above heading, read before the 
Anthropological Institute of Great Britain in 1895, was the first 
description of the inaugural ceremonies of the Wiradthuri tribes.* 
The following year I contributed a supplementary article 
containing further and more complete details./ In the present 
paper it is intended to give a short account of another meeting 
of the aboriginal inhabitants, which took place in June, 1898. 

The general camp was erected about three miles farther 
down the Bulgeraga Creek than the locality I visited and 
described in my first article, and was on the right bank of that 
creek. This place is situated on what is known as the ‘ Mole 
Country,’ on the Lower Macquarie River, Parish of Wullain- 
gambone, County of Gregory, New South Wales. On one side 
of the main encampment was the boorbuny, an oval space, whose 
diameters were 92 feet 8 inches, and 86 feet 5 inches respectively, 
bounded by a nick cut in the soil about three inches deep and 
four inches wide. 

From the interior of the space referred to, all grass, stones, 
and timber had been removed, and the surface made level and 
smooth. In the side of the oval farthest from the camp, about 
four feet of the perimeter was left intact, for the purpose of 
affording ingress and egress when using the enclosure on 
ceremonial occasions, it not being permissible at such times to 
step over the nick or groove cut in the ground. 


* Journ. Anthrop. Inst. (London), xxy., 295-318, Plates 25-27. 
+ Ibid., xxvi., 272-285. 


36 THE BURBUNG OF THE WIRADTHURI TRIBES 


The yoombo, or buddha-qoonany, was formed in some thickly 
wooded country 425 yards distant, in a northerly direction, and 
the four earthen heaps composing it were about thirty feet apart, 
and from fifteen to twenty inches in height. There were two 
inverted stumps of saplings, about two feet out of the ground, 
erected. in a corresponding position to those shown in ‘ Diagram 
3,”’ Plate xxv., accompanying my first paper on the Burbung.* 
Beyond the goombo was the usual screen of boughs, known 
as yareel, The stumps were about the same height and other- 
wise similar to those formerly described, and were stained with 
human blood in the same way. 


On proceeding 241 paces along the pathway, tharambal, 
from the boorbuny towards the yoombo, it was found to pass 
through a rustic archway, formed by pulling together and 
fastening the tops of a number of saplings naturally growing 
at that spot, with boughs piled up thickly at each side, leaving 
a clear passage about three or four feet wide. From this point 
onward to the goombo the surface of the ground on either side 
of the path was ornamented with the usual yowan patterns, 
interspersed among which were human figures, representations of 
animals, native weapons, and other objects, which I shall briefly 
describe presently. Around the outside boundary of the area 
containing these mystic drawings, a fence of saplings and bushes 
had been erected to add to the exclusiveness of the place, and 
also to keep the white man’s stock from trampling upon and 
defacing the artistic labours of the natives. 

Three yards beyond the archway referred to there were cut 
into the turf the figure of a man and a woman, a little Jess than 
life-size, lying side by side, with their genital organs con- 
spicuously displayed. Not far from this pair was the effigy of a 
man formed by stuffing a suit of European attire with grass 
and leaves. This was propped up to keep it in an erect posture, 
giving it the appearance of a sentry on the watch. A little 
further on the outline of an immense snake, called the HW ahwee, 
was cut in the ground. 

At the distance of 130 paces from the archway (or 371 paces 
from the boorbung), still going towards the goombo, a colossal 
horizontal representation of Baiamai, eight feet six inches long, 
and five feet ten inches across the chest, was formed by heaping 
up the loose earth into human shape. The chest, which was 


* Journ. Anthrop. Inst., London, xxy., 295-318. 


BY R. H. MATHEWS, L.S. 37 


the highest part of the body, was about a foot and a-half above 
the level of the surrounding ground. He was lying with his 
head towards the goombo, and near him was a boomerang and 
other weapons cut in the soil. 

Between Baiamai and the goombo, a kangaroo was outlined 
by a groove in the soil, with a real spear inserted in its body. 
This spear was supposed to have been thrown by Baiamai before 
he slipped and fell where he is now lying.* 

Besides the foregoing there were represented on the ground 
an iguana, a fish, an emu, a bullock, some birds’ nests, a death- 
adder, a pig, and other things. An eagle hawk’s eyrie was 
represented in one of the trees, and not far from the image of 
Baiamai was the usual fire on top of some raised earth. At 
another place an oval hole, between two and three feet in length 
and about a foot deep, was dug in the ground, to represent the 
vulva of a woman. Along the margin of this depression grass 
and small bushes were stuck in the loose soil, in imitation of 
hair. Around this device the men danced, muttering incan- 
tations and indulging in libidinous gestures. 

On both sides of the path, between the archway and the 
goombo, the trees were marked with different objects, including 
iguanas, turtles, snakes, birds, the moon, and human figures. 
One of the trees had a wavy line cut into the bark along its 
bole for about seventeen feet from the ground, to represent the 
mark made by lightning, such as we sometimes see on trees in a 
forest after heavy thunder. 

About two hundred people of all ages and both sexes, 
including several half-castes, were gathered at the main camp. 
They came from (ulargambone, Coonamble, Trangie, Dandaloo, 
Dubbo, Brewurrina, and Conkapeak. From the time the local 
mob selected the site and commenced preparing the ground, 
until the last contingent arrived, was more than three months, 
owing to various delays. At this gathering nine youths were 
admitted to the status of membership in their respective tribes. 
For particulars of the course of secret instruction in the bush— 
the inculcation of a mystic language and other occult teachings, 
the reader is referred to my previous articles on this subject.+ 

The punching out of a front upper incisor tooth of the 
graduates was formerly practised by these tribes, but of late 


* Journ. Anthrop. Inst., Lond., Vol. xxv., 300. 
+ “The Burbung of the Wiradthuri Tribes,’ Journ. Anthrop. Inst. 
(London), xxv., 295-318, Plates 25-27. Ibid., xxvi., 272-285. 


38 THE BURBUNG OF.THE WIRADTHURI TRIBES. 


years it has fallen into disuse. The custom of one or more of 
the tribes present contributing a victim to furnish a cannibalistie 
feast in:connection with the secret ceremonies (**) has also ceased 
for a number of years, in consequence of the stringency of the 
white man’s laws respecting murder. 

The Wiradthuri tribes are spread over a wide zone of 
country, commencing a little way south of the Barwon River, 
and stretching southerly almost to the Murray, Throughout 
this immense territory the language spoken is substantially the 
same; in the northern half of the nation the name is pro- 
nounced Wiradthuri, and in the southern Wiradjuri. The 
people are divided into four sections, called respectively, Murri, 
Kubbi, Ippai, and Oombi, with laws of intermarriage and 
descent as particularized in the following table :— 


Husband. Wife. Offspring. 
Murri Ippai Oombi 
Kubbi Oombi Ippai 
Ippai Murri Kubbi 
Oombi Kubbi Murri 


* «'The Initiation Ceremonies of Australian Tribes,’ Proce. Amer. Philos. 
Soc., Phila., xxxvii., 66. 


be piled pid 


AUSTRALIAN VEGETATION AND ITS. 
GEOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT. | 


By JOHN SHIRLEY, B.Sc. 


{Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 26th Muy, 1900.) 


' An observer on the banks of the Brisbane River during the 
floods of 1893, might have observed vast masses of vevetable 
matter, trunks and limbs of trees, clumps of bamboos, bushes, 
leaves and fruits floating down with the current towards the sea. 
The water had the colour of yellow mud from the mass of 
sediment it contained, and all this organic and inorganic iatter, 
scoured from the surface of the river basin, was on its journey 
out to sea. Somewhere in the bed of the Pacific, there must be 
layers of vegetable material, covered by the sand and earth 
brought down in this mud-coloured water. At some future age, 
when, by a series of possibly slow but irresistible upthrusts, 
what is now the bed of the sea becomes a portion of the land 
surface of Australia, the leaves and stems then buried may be 
classified among fossil plants by the paleobotanist of that age. 

The records of the Queensland plants of past ages are by no 
means as complete as those of its extinct animals. ‘T'he shells 
of bivalves and univalves and the bones of vertibrates have been 
far better preserved in a fossil state than the leaves and fruits 
of trees ; and it is far easier to reconstruct an animal from its 
skeleton, than to determine a plant from the remains of its fossil 
stem, or from its detached and scattered leaves. 

Prior to the eighteenth century, when fossil plants began to 
be noticed, they were almost universally regarded as the remains 
of plants overwhelmed by the deluge described in the Gih, 7th, 
and 8th chapters of Genesis. As keener minds were drawn to the 
study of this ancient botany, three important points were 
recognised :— 


40 AUSTRALIAN VEGETATION AND ITS GEOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT 


L. Few fossil species of plants have now living representatives, 
but hace in part been succeeded hy others more or less closely allied, 

From this it is seen that in certain groups of plants 
there has been. regular and. constant change, by adaptation to 
environment ; and there has been a complete extinction of other 
species which could not readily conform themselves to the 
changed conditions. 


Il. The deeper the stratum containing the plant remains, the 
lower these plants are in type, and the greater the difference between 
them and species now living in the same region. 

This simply shows that the greater the time given for 
change, the further from the original type have the plants 
metamorphosed themselves ; and, as in animal life, it tends to 
show that the higher plants are produced by gradual develop- 
ment from those of simpler structure. 


III. The fossil species are often of a kind wholly unsuitable 
for the present climate of the region in which they lie. 

In a recent magazine there is an account of an imaginary 
visit to one of Jupiter’s satellites, which was found in a con- 
dition approaching that of our moon. The few inhabitants 
were found grouped about the equator of their world, living under 
glass, like exotics in an English hot-house. Similarly our 
world is losing its internal heat, and it is conceivable that 
places now covered with ice and snow, once carried a prolific 
vegetation. This may account for the discovery in Greenland 
of remains of plants which are said to have required a climate 
like that of the Mediterranean coast. De Heer calculates that 
to grow such plants, the average daily temperature must have 
been 30 degs. higher than that of Greensland at the present day. 
Similar plant remains were found in Franz Josef Land by the 
Jackson-Harmsworth expedition, and are mentioned by Nansen 
in his ‘‘ Furthest North.” 

For a knowledge of the fossil plants of Queensland we are 
indebted to Messrs. W. Carruthers, J. W. Dawson, R. Etheridge, 
junr., the Revs, W. B. Clarke and J. E. Tenison Woods, Pro- 
fessor McCoy, and the German specialists Ottokar Feistmantel 
and C. von Ettingshausen. Feistmantel dealt mainly with the 
plants of the coal measures, and Ettingshausen with cretaceous 
plants. Mr. R. Etheridge, junr., determined all fossil plants 
collected by the Queensland Geological Survey Department up 
to the end of 1895. 


BY J. SHIRLEY, B.Sc. 41 


Drvontan Periop. 


The oldest Queensland plant fossil appears in Devonian rocks 
at the Fanning River, Burdekin Downs, in shales and sand- 
stones. Strange to say it is not a member of any lowly group of 
plants, but belongs to the family of pines and _ firs. 
Dicranophyllum, the plant in question, is an ally of the Chinese 
gingko, that mysterious tree, which though found in a fossil 
state is still cultivated around temples in Japan and Northern 
China. The remains consist of portions of branches, with 
spirally arranged leaves, and short internodes, and with their 
surfaces marked out into rhombic meshes, closely crowded 
together. 

It is not to be conceived that this plant came into existence 
without ancestors or contemporaries. It belongs to a fairly high 
type of plant life, and its solitary position in the Devonian rocks 
of Queensland may at any moment be altered by fresh 
discoveries. 

Prrmo-Carsonirerous Prrtop. 


With the next geological epoch—the Permo-Carboniferous 
period—represented by the whole series of beds belonging to the 
coal measures, we come upon a great wealth of plant material, 
in strong contrast to strata beneath them. In the Gympie, 
Star, and Bowen beds are found the remains of plants— 
enormous in their growth. but lowly in type, and in our days 
represented merely by small and delicate plants, pendant from 
our trees, or growing sparsely in marshes or on sandy soils. 
These plants of the coal measures, known as Calamites, 
Lepidodendrons, Sigillarias, Stigmarias, &c., are nearly allied to 
the lowly yet beautiful lycopods, selaginellas, marestails, and 
nardoo. In our Permo-Carboniferous rocks there are also found 
many ferns, the most common forms having large ovate pinne ; 
some few cycads, relations of our Zamias; and trunks of fossil 
conifers. 

In other parts of the world Lepidodendron, Sigillaria, and 
their allies first appear in the Devonian formations ; and, 
although they have not been fonnd in Queensland rocks of that 
age, we know from the testimony of the rocks elsewhere that 
they were contemporaries and predecessors of our single 
Devonian fossil already referred to. 

It has been advanced as a reason for the enormous develop- 
ment of the lowly, possibly succulent, plants of the coal- 
measures, that the climate then was much hotter and moister 


42. AUSTRALIAN VEGETATION AND ITS GEOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT 


than at present, that the greater internal heat of the earth made 
climate far more equable than in our era, and that with this 
equable climate there was far less liability to winds and storms 
than that now prevailing. Under these conditions, plants of 
delicate texture could grow to a considerable height, and had 
not the necessity to strengthen their stems to resist wind pressure, 
as our modern plants have. 

The fern remains of the period belong mainly to a family 
possessing enormous fronds, with ovate or lanceolate pinne. 
This is the typical fern of the coal-measures, the Glossopteris 
family. The modern ferns of Queensland which resemble them 
in outer aspect are the genera Marattia and Angiopteris ; but 
it is not intended to infer that these are in any sense allied. 


Some very doubtful remains referred to Cycadew, and 
believed to be allies of our Cycads and Macrozamias, were found 
by the Rev. J. E. Tenison Woods in the Star beds of the 
Drummond Range; but, until a much greater quantity of 
material has been collected, determination must be reserved. 


Specimens of a fossil wood, found by Mr. R. L. (now Dr.) 
Jack at the Bowen River coal field, were examined by Mr. 
Carruthers, and its internal structure, as revealed by the micro- 
scope, proved it to belong to an ally of our bunyas and hoop- 
pines. 


Trias-JuRA PrEriop. 


After the Permo-Carboniferous period the luxuriance of 
vegetation, geologically considered, began to diminish. In the 
Burrum beds which form the lower half of the Trias-Jura 
system, no further advance in type is made, but the most 
complex in structure, the cycads and conifers, are now richly 
represented. 

.The Ipswich beds, the upper portion of the Trias-Jura, form 
a mine of botanical wealth. They have been most carefully 
examined, near Ipswich and Brisbane, by Mr. J. H. Simmonds, 
who possesses a private collection of fossil plants from this for- 
mation of the very greatest value. No true flowering plants have 
been found in these beds, but the advance in type is most marked. 
Equisetums and Calamites are few in number, but there is an 
enormous wealth of ferns, eycads and conifers. Among ferns 
Glossopteris has disappeared, the most common forms are 
Alethopteris and Thinnfeldia. Cycads of the Zamia family are 
also richly represented ; and cone-bearing trees akin to the 


BY J. SHIRLEY, B.SC. . 43 
bunya, the yew, and the giant trees of California, have left 
numerous remains. 

The flora of New Zealand with its tree-ferns and its eoni- 
fers, which seem to be survivals from old-world types, is said to 
approach most nearly to the Trias-Jura flora. 


Cretaceous Prrtop. 


The Lower Cretaceous beds, known in Queensland as the 
Rolling Downs formation, have as yet yielded no plant fossils. 
The facts connected with the Upper Cretaceous ;eriod have to 
_be stated with some diffidence. Mr. Henry G. Stokes some 
time prior to 1892 collected from beds of clay, shale and sand- 
stone, lying between Sherwood and Wolston stations on the 
Ipswich Railway Line; on the 17-Mile Rocks road ; and in 
paddocks lying 8.S.E of Sherwood, a number of beautifully 
preserved plant remains, belonging to the most highly developed 
forms of vegetable life. ‘The same beds are reported by “Mr. 
Stokes as extending from Corinda to Runcorn on the Southport 
line. These fossiliferous beds were regarded by Mr. Stokes as 
belonging to some period of the Tertiary epoch. Mr. Jack, on 
the other hand, says in his ‘‘ Geology and Paleontology of 
Queensland and New Guinea,” p. 597, ‘‘I have gone over the 
section carefully, and can see no marked lithological distinction 
between the strata from which Mr. Stokes obtained his fossils, 
and many other well known beds which unquestionably form 
part of the Ipswich Coal Measures.’’ These plant fossils from 
Mr. Stokes’ collection, were sent to Baron von Ettingshausen 
for determination, and are said by him to include palms, figs, 
banksias, cinnamons, oaks, aralias, eucalypts and cassias, «c. 
The whole facies of this fossil flora agrees exactly with that of 
Upper Cretaceous floras from Aix-la-Chapelle in Europe, and 
from the Cretaceous strata of New Jersey, Alabama, Nebraska, 
and Kansas, «c., in North America. It seems impossible to 
deny that the beds extending from Oxley to Wolston, and from 
17-Mile Rocks to Runcorn, belong to the Upper Cretaceous 
epoch. 

About one-twentieth of the area of this colony, from 
Windorah to the divide between the Gulf and the Northern 
Pacific waters, is covered by the Desert Sandstone formation, 
also a part of the Upper Cretaceaus system. These rocks yield 
very few fossil plants. | A fern—Didymosorus—is the most 
common form; and, strange to say, undoubled leaves of Glossop- 
teris, the typical fern of the coal measures, have been discovered 


44 AUSTRALIAN VEGETATION AND ITS GEOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENT. 


by Mr. W. H. Rands in Cretaceous rocks of this group. This 
survival is most remarkable, although, in India and South 
Africa, Glossopteris is found in beds of Triassic age. 

Tertiary Perriop. 

The Tertiary rocks are mainly represented in Queensland 
by volcanic beds, and are therefore not likely to yield many 
specimens of fossil plants. There is therefore an immense gap 
in the record, between Mr. Stokes’ fossil plants, and the flora 
now existing in Queensland, which may yet be bridged over by 
future discoveries. The post-tertiary deposits are mainly river 
and lake drifts, raised beaches and sand dunes; and so far have 
given no assistance whatever in tracing the descent of living 
plants to their old-time ancestors. In New South Wales, how- 
ever, tertiary plant fossils are common, and approach partly to 
modern Australian species and partly to the Huropean and North 
American floras. In the gold-fields of Victoria, too, dicotyle- 
donous fruits have been found, and determined by the late Baron 
F. von Mueller. 


THE INSPECTION OF HOME AND EXPORT 
MEAT SUPPLY. 
By W. C. QUINNELL, M.R.C.Y.S.L. 
(Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 16th June, 1900.) 
(Witaprawn at Request or AUTHOR.) 


Proc. Roy. Soc. Q’Lanp, Vou. Xvi. Prate I. 


NOTES ON A MALARTA-CARRYING MOSQUITO. 
(ANOPHELES PICTUS.) 


(Pxates I.—IV.) 


By W. R. COLLEDGE. 


[Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 22nd September, 
1900. | 


I nave the pleasure of presenting to you a few notes and 
illustrations of the particular kind of mosquito which propagates 
malarial disease. It is only within the last few years that it 
has been suspected of fulfilling this function. But an elaborate 
series of experiments have been conducted in various places, 
and the suspicion has deepened now into a scientific fact. Pure 
bred mosquitoes have been allowed to bite patients suffering 
from malarial fever. Some of these insects have been dissected, 
and the malarial germs seen in the stomach, salivary glands, 
and proboscis. Some of the same batch of insects have bitten 
healthy persons and inoculated them with the fever. The chain 
of evidence is therefore so complete that the English experts do 
not require any more experiments on human beings. The 
evidence accumulated is considered amply sufficient to establish 
the fact. As probably ten millions of people die annually from 
this disease, and three or four times that number are disabled 
from pursuing active occupations for considerable periods, this 
discovery is fraught with deep interest to the inhabitants of the 
tropical world. Various experiments made in India, Africa, and 
Italy with the common mosquito, gave negative results, so that 
the ordinary kind is not thought to convey the decease. But a 
particular kind called the Anopheles is the one concerned. They 


AG NOTES ON A MALARIA-CARRYING MOSQUITO 


are found around Brisbane, but in small numbers. Out of a 
thousand collected under ordinary circumstances, probably only 
one would belong to this particular variety. As you trave} 
north I think the proportion increases. Some came to me from 
Cairns, and the batch contained twenty per cent. of the 
Anopheles. It must be understood that the Anopheles are naturally 
free from malarial germs. It is only where they can suck the 
blood of malarial patients and so receive the germs that they 
become propagators of the disease. The eggs are difficult to 
find. They are too small to be seen by the naked eye, being 
only the fiftieth of an inch in length and two hundredth in 
breadth. They are not massed together into a raft like the 
ordinary culex eggs, but are laid separately on the water. In 
Fig. 1 a number are seen. They are shapen like a beautiful 
little boat with curved ends. The boat used by the ancient 
Britons called a coracle bears a strong resemblance to them. 
On looking at the upper edge, or gunwale, a slender line is 
traceable. This consists of a thin loose membrane falling over 
the inside of the vessel in transverse folds. Turning a boat 
bottom up this silken canopy may be seen projecting on both 
sides. This no doubt helps the boat to preserve an even keel, 
and probably acts as an attachment to anchor it to a twig or 
stone, and when the egg is hatched its thin skin can easily be 
ruptured by the young larva in its effort to crawl into the water. 

In the next stage the larva are easily distinguished by 
certain peculiarities of structure and habit. They can be found 
in our district at all times of the year in suitable places. The 
most likely are low-lying grass fields, which are often submerged 
and form shallow pools not sufficiently deep or permanent for 
the existence of fish. I have never but once found the larva 
separate from those of the ordinary mosquito. In Queensland 
the two varieties are generally together, and I have found them 
so at Southport and the Tweed Heads in old barrels containing 
water in the open air. The most distinguishing feature is that 
while the culex larva hang with the tip of the tail above the 
water, and the body hanging down in an almost perpendicular 
direction, the Anopheles stretches himself out on the surface 
like a bit of stick. It may be vanity that induces him to assume 
this position, for he is certainly more handsome than the 
common variety. The body is usually of a mottled brown 
colour, occasionally they are black, with a white collar and one 
white abdominal segment. On the back of the thorax is often 
seen a shield, in shape like a diamond, a heart, or the letter U. 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE. 47 


The colour is sometimes cream, or varying shades of pink up to 
red. Patches of the same colour are often repeated on the 
centre of the third, fifth and seventh dorsal segments. Some 
times two stripes run parallel down the back. They are there- 
fore more handsome and interesting than the common mosquito. 
Its head is also smaller, the maxillary brushes vurve in the 
opposite direction and are less complicated. The neck is very 
flexible. A ‘frequent practice is to twist the head round so that 
the forehead lies in the same plane as the abdomen. This 
position does not appear to be inconvenient, for it eats and 
swallows food all the time. One of these gentlemen is seen in 
Fig. 2. You can see the small, narrow, slightly oval head, the 
expanded brushes, and the tail differs entirely from the ordinary 
kind. The long projecting tracheal tube has disappeared, and 
though a paddle with four triangular blades is there, yet it is 
small. and projecting downwards is a broad fan composed of 
setce or strong bristles, enabling it to swim rapidly through the 
water. Three of the terminal segments are seen in the next 
slide, showing more clearly the propelling apparatus with two of 
the triangular paddle blades, the other pair are hidden by the 
bristles. One peculiarity of the Anopheles is what I have called 
a series of epaulettes on the segments of the back. Their 
discovery about a year ago was, to me, a source of great pleasure, 
I do not know whether they are actually new to science, but I 
have not seen any reference to them in the literature on the subject, 
so it is possible that they may be so. {tix of the abdominal 
segments bear a pair of these peculiar organs on their dorsal 
surfaces, so that there are twelve altogether. They rise on a 
short channelled stalk from the skin and then spread out their 
star-shaped leaves like a flower. The radii would form a 
complete circle or star, but that on the side directed to the body 
a few of the points are always missing. It therefore forms 
three quarters of a circle. In Fig. 8 are three abdominal 
segments showing how they rise upward from the back. The 
next slide is a perpendicular view showing how they are 
arranged on the back; one is traceable in each corner of the 
segments. Fig. 4 gives a good idea of the structure, but the 
view being taken at an angle does not give so natural an idea as 
the succeeding slide. Rising upwards like a flower, anyone 
familiar with high power photography will know the difficulty 
experienced in representing the parts lying in different planes 
in one picture. 


48 NOTES ON A MALARIA-CARRYING MOSQUITO 


It is a problem of some interest to determine the function 
of these beautiful organs. I think they mainly fulfil a 
mechanical office in enabling the Jarva to float on the surface 
with the least muscular effort. ‘lhe body, denser than water, 
will tend to sink, but the epaulettes being flush with the surface 
must by capillary attraction lay hold of the air film. Their 
slender star-like points will lay hold of it. There will thus be 
twelve epaulettes pulling at the air film together, counterpoising 
the specific gravity of the body and enabling the larva to lie 
and breathe without exercising any muscular effort in maintain- 
ing that position. 

I have found another variety with longer epaulettes much 
finer in structure, the rays rising more in a perpendicular 
manner, not unlike a feather duster, and when it died the leaves 
clasped a bubble of air, like the fingers of the hand clasping a 
cricket ball. In confirmation of this opinion I have seen the 
tips of the epaulettes showing slightly above the water’s surface. 
Likewise on moving they do not sink like the culex larve, but 
slide over the surface with a sharp zigzag motion, first in one 
direction then in another. But when alarmed the body is bent 
into a curve, so breaking the adhesion of the outer epaulettes to 
the air, they then sink to the bottom of the pool lying motion- 
less for a considerable time. They may likewise be the receptive 
organs of some special sense of which we have no knowledge. 

An excellent book on Gnats and Mosquitoes has just come 
to hand as these pages are being revised for printing. In it one 
of the epaulettes is figured and termed a natatory hair from the 
body of the larva. But this is a very insufficient description of 
the beauty, and does not form a satisfactory idea of the functions 
fulfilled by these beautiful organs. Their position on the dorsal 
surface and the break in the leaves being directed inwards towards 
the back seems contrary to the idea that they are swimming 
hairs, and a fuller investigation I think will confirm the opinion 
I have expressed. 

As the larva grows the old skin is shed, and it acquires 
another more suited to its development. More practical than 
men and women, their habits of economy are carried so far that 
when they have stripped off their old clothes they generally eat 
them. Frequently there is a rush among the members of the 
family as to who is to catch them first. The next slide represents 
a part of one of these discarded garments. It shows the skin 
covering the tail segments, the long branching hairs by which 
it was propelled through the water. Further up eight of those 


Proc. Roy. Soc. Q’xanp, Vow. xv. Prats II. 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE. 49 


beautiful epaulettes may be counted. The ladder-like structure 
consists of the two tracheal or air tubes, which traverse the sides 
of the body, while the cross bars are the dorsal plates. These 
two air tubes terminate in the tail segment. In the culex they 
project beyond the body. Here they are cut off flush with the 
skin of the back, forming two circular apertures. These are 
closed by valves when they descend so as to shut out the water. 
Occasionally some obstruction gets into them and they bend like 
a ring, and sweep the maxillary brushes across until the 
obstruction is removed. 

The larva feed on organic forms attached to the stems and 
leaves of aquatic plants. They can be seen industriously 
sweeping their head brushes along and swallowing the product. 
And I should think the hunter after diatoms might be rewarded 
by finding some of these beautiful forms in the stomach and 
intestines. 

They remain in the larval state much longer*than the 
ordinary variety, and likewise show the remarkable effect of cold 
in retarding their development. During mid summer, the cycle 
of change from the deposition of the egg to the fledging of the 
matured insect may occupy a month, but in cold weather double 
that period is required. This is about three or four times longer 
than the time occupied by the ordinary variety. This is 
a great check upon the production of the insect in Queensland. 
It so often chooses shallow pools for the reception of its eggs, 
and these pools, under the dry winds and porous soils of our 
colony, dry up long before the period of incubation is ended, so 
that a very large portion of the insects die in the immature 
state. The next slide represents a composite creature. I had 
the good fortune to secure one of the larva passing into the pupa 
stage (see Fig. 5). It has burst through the larval skin, and the 
round projection on the shoulder is the head of the old larva, 
whose skin partially invests the pupa. The tail, with its pro- 
pelling sete, and a number of those beautiful epaulettes, are 
seen at the side. The next view (Fig. 6) is one of the pupa 
entirely free. This is a lateral view of his lordsh.p. Attached 
to the last segment of the abdomen are two broad flappers, which 
are used to propel him through the water. From the sides of 
the head arise two breathing tubes, or thoracic spiracles. They 
project, and are thrust through the surface of the water for the 
purpose of inhaling air, which is distributed by various tubes 
through the body, and helps to develop the future mosquito. 


Through the partially transparent case of the pupa may be 
D 


50 NOTES ON A MALARIA-CARRYING MOSQUITO 


traced parts of the insect. The head, with its organ:, wings and 
long legs are very neatly packed up inside. To show how these 
spiracles are situated, I have a view of the gentleman’s back, 
taken as he floats on the water. He was alive, and had the good 
manners to remain still on the stage of the microscope while he 
was having his portrait taken. In the succeeding view (Fig. 7), 
is one of the spiracles detached. It differs in shape from the 
organ of the ordinary Culex, so that the pupa may be dis- 
tinguished by this feature alone. Im the Culex it has a 
resemblance to the leg of a Wellington boot with the top cut off 
transversely. In the Anopheles it is shorter and open for the 
most part of its length. It is not unlike the coal scoop seen in 
the parlour coal boxes in the old country. Before leaving I will 
show you the powerful swimming apparatus attached to his 
latter end. Being almost transparent, it does not photograph 
well, so this is taken on a dark ground, and brings the outlines 
very distinctly before you. The next object is a live cell with a 
number of the pupa disporting themselves in the water. You 
see the way in which the tail fans strike the water backwards, 
the rebound projecting the insect through the water as though it 
were a football driven by a powerful kick. 

The succeeding picture (Fig. 8) shows the final stage being 
completed. Here the insect has been matured in the pupa case. 
This may occupy three days in summer or a fortnight in winter. 
It has been preparing for a change of life, and has seemed 
conscious of some impending change, for it manifests a general 
uneasiness, darting through the water with quick, jerky move- 
ments. Then, if carefully watched, the skin at the back of the 
head is seen to split ; then the mosquito’s head appears. Slowly 
the slit enlarges, and the shoulders and chest appear. No 
decided motion is traceable for a while, but still there is progress. 
Now the insect bends forwards, releasing a little of the wings 
and body ; then bending backwards a little more of the legs is 
freed. So this alternate movement continues until the forelegs 
are free. These are then placed on anything near, and by the 
leverage they give the rest of the body is soon cleared. When 
the wings have been outstretched a few times they are put to 
their intended use, and bear the insect away to new fields and 
pastures green. In this figure the insect has succeeded in dis- 
engaging itself with the exception of the tips of its long legs, 
which are entangled in the pupa case. When once free the 
Anopheles are easily distinguished from the common variety. 
Here is one of the common kind (Fig. 10). It was photographed 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE. 51 


alive, soit is in a perfectly natural position. Its body hangs 
nearly parallel to the surface upon whichit rests. It is supported 
by the fore and middle pair of legs. The hind pair curl back- 
wards and project into the air. If ever you see a mosquito with 
its hind legs in that position, you may ke sure it does not belong 
to the Anopheles variety. The latter uses the whole of his six 
legs to support itself. They are very long, the hinder ones much 
more so than the front. When they are planted firmly down 
the body projects at an angle varying from 30 to 45 degrees. 
' The next slide (Fig. 9) is a natural photo. of one of these gentle- 
men. He was good enough to allow me to operate upon him, 
and the position shows very distinctly the difference between 
them and the ordinary mosquito when at rest. They can be 
picked out by any ordinary observer. 

Another distinguishing feature is their spotted wings. One 
variety of the ordinary kind, usually called the Scots grey, have 
faintly spotted wings, but the marks are not nearly so distinct 
as in the Anopheles. In the figure (No. 12) the dark spots and 
light spaces are clearly manifest. In the light portions the 
scales appear to be absent, but a careful search shows them to be 
still there, but almost devoid of colour. This peculiarity of the 
wings is most beautifully seen when the microscope is arranged 
for dark ground illumination. The nervures of the wings are 
traversed by a double row of scales, set at an angle to each other, 
and a deep fringe of long sword-shapen ones hang from the 
lower border of the wing. The next slide (Fig. 11) shows this 
beautiful fringe. Here is one with scales taken from various 
parts of the body. They differ a good deal in shape, and are 
inserted like shingles on the roof of a house, the tip of one being 
overlapped by the base of the next. An exception to this is 
found on the back of the head ; here the scales are wedge-shaped 
and set upright like plumes. 

Certain appendages of the head differ from the ordinary 
mosquito. One of these is the length of the palpi in the female. 
On the screen is the head of a female of the common kind. The 
palpi are short, not more than one-fifth of the length of the 
proboscis. In the next view (Fig. 18) is seen the head of the 
female Anopheles. The antenne stretch out on each side, but 
the palpi are prolonged until they nearly equal the proboscis in 
length. That is a characteristic feature of this family. 

The male organs of the head also have their peculiarities. 
The succeeding slide (Fig. 14) shows the proboscis in the centre. 
The palpi are longer, and near their tips expand into a club-like 


52 NOTES ON A MALARIA CARRYING MOSQUITO 


form. Below are seen the beautiful feathery antenne so 
characteristic of the male sex. Many of you are aware that 
these are musical instruments, made and pitched to receive the 
notes of the female’s song. She is the player, he the instrument 
upon which she plays, a relation not exclusively confined to the 
mosquito family. 

The palpi are supposed to be organs of touch, but the insect 
does not appear to use them for that purpose. The organ of 
touch is the proboscis, the fleshy tube in which the lancets lie. 
The tip of this organ is deeply cleft, so as to form two fleshy 
lobes bearing hairs which are probably tactile. I have seen it 
pass over fruit, and up and down the ridges on the skin 
of my hand apparently seeking for a suitable place wherein to 
bore. 

Very exaggerated statements are heard about the piercing 
capabilities of the lancets. My own experience goes as far as 
this: I have gone into their haunts with soft chamois leather 
gloves, such as housemaids use, on my hands, and they have 
pierced through these into my hands. The female possesses six 
lancets, these are so constructed that they all fit together like 
one weapon. The lingua or tongue is the largest and takes the 
form of a long hollow tube, the end sloping down to a sharp 
point. Around this the other lancets are grouped, these are too 
slender and delicate to be used separately, and fit closely around 
the stronger barrel of the tongue. Two of these lancets, the 
maxillee, however, are barbed for a short distance from the tips 
on their exposed sides. Here is a highly magnified representa- 
tion of one: a dozen teeth fine at the tip and then gradually 
enlarging are clearly visible. This constitutes a neat double 
surgical saw, not meant for cutting bone but flesh. These two 
barbed lancets are longer than the rest and project backwards 
into the head where they terminate in a sort of hammer head. 
In this photo, Fig. 16, you see how they project backwards 
beyond the rest. To the ends of this cross hammer, strong 
muscles are attached, and by them these two special lancets 
can be pulled up and down, sliding over the tongue which acts 
asa guide. So they are used to enlarge the original puncture and 
cause a freer flow of blood for the tubular tongue to’suck. It is 
a peculiar and interesting provision for the insect’s welfare. If 
the hypodermic needle of the principal lancet were simply thrust 
into the skin, unless it pierced a blood-vessel, little blood would 
flow, for the flesh would close round the sloping aperture and 
choke it up. But by the action of these little perpendicular saws 


a ’ 
Proc. Roy. Soc. Q’tanp, Vou. xvr. 


‘ 
Sin 
~ 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE, 53 


the muscular structure of the victim is sawn around the point, 
the aperture is kept clear and a freer flow of blood insured. I 
madea little glass cell, big enough to hold a mosquito, and capable 
of being strapped to the finger, or on any other object, and of 
being placed on the stage of the microscope at the same time, and I 
found that they could not pierce the fruit of the fresh pineapple. 
They could freely suck up the juice, but when they tried to pierce 
the fruit they failed. I could see the combined lancets bending 
like a fishing rod under the force with which they were thrust 
against the fruit, but it was too tough for them to penetrate. 
The poison and salivary glands of this species are small and 
delicate and difficult to separate in an uninjured state. They lie 
in the prothorax contiguous to the neck, and appear like three 
long sacs, the central being the largest, and somewhat larger at 
the base. They have a granular appearance, and are each 
traversed centrally by a fine ductule, which collects the secretions. 
The three ductules then unite, forming one tube which joins at 
the neck, the tube proceeding from the opposite set of glands. 
It passes along the under part of the head until the base of the 
large sucking lancet is reached, where it terminates in a circular. 
cup. Thisis now on the screen, see Fig. 20, the lancet is magni- 
fied so that it appears like the mast of a ship, and out of the 
centre of the cup there hangs the poison duct, looking like a 


ship’s cable. This enables you clearly to understand 
how the poison and Salivary fluids are con veyed from 
the glands to this tiny reservoir. When the lancet 


is thrust into the skin, that exertion probably injects 
the poison fluid into the wound, then the — suction 
apparatus is brought into play. The base of the lancet curves 
back in the shape of a tube, and then expands into a hollow 
bulb or pump, Fig. 19. It really acts as a reservoir, and I 
think the work of sucking is performed by the ringed muscles of 
the esophagus and proventriculus which are attached to spiny 
processes at the further end of the bulb. 

With regard to the function of respiration very elaborate 
organs are used to ensureit The oxygen of the air is as 
necessary for its existence as it isfor us. We inhale air into 
the lungs, the corpuscles of the blood extract the oxygen and 
carry it to all parts of the body where blood vessels go. But if 
we could empty out all the blood, and after filling all the 
arteries and veins down to the minutest capillary vessels with 
air, and send it circulating through the system, that would be 
an illustration of the way in which insects breathe, The whole 


54 NOTES ON A MALARIA-CARRYING MOSQUITO 


insects body is likealung. Air is received by openings on the 
body called spiracles. Here, Fig. 17, is a photo. of one on the 
pro-thorax, immediately behind the first pair of legs. It is oval 
and fringed with a row of hairs like eyelashes, for filtering out 
dust. From the orifice large tubes proceed. These are built 
with a spiral fibre running round the interior wall. The india- 
rubber tube of a gas stove, with its spiral wire furnishes us with 
an illustration of it. So these tracheal tubes are kept distended 
for the passage of the air. They branch like a tree, gradually 
growing smaller the further they extend. By this means air is 
carried to all parts of the body. On each of the lower part of 
the abdominal segments are a pair of these spiracles, but so 
minute as easily to escape observation. This tracheal system 
is the source of an immense amount of trouble, and annoyance 
to the anatomist. Their tiny branches clasp every organ of the 
body, and being so tough and elastic are very difficult to 
separate without injuring them. 

In the interior of the body occupying the space between the 
chest muscles and the stomach is a long transparent air sac, 
filled with separate bubbles of air or gas, Fig. 18. The bubbles 
vary in size from the three to two-hundredth part of an inch in 
diameter. A transparent silk bag filled with india-rubber toy 
baloons would resemble on a large scale the air bag of the 
mosquito. The walls of the air vesicles consist of some oily 
fluid, on rupturing the sac they float on water some time before 
they disappear. On the back of the thorax, where it joins the 
abdomen, are two club like organs projecting outwards. They 
look like an aborted pair of hind wings. Here is a view of them 
on the screen. The connection between them is simply a piece of 
skin torn from across the beck. Scientists are not agreed as to 
their function. They are called halteres or balancers, because if 
one is cut off the insect cannot fly straight. They are there- 
fore thought to be helpful in preserving a balance, just as the 
pole of a tight-rope dancer enables him to adjust. By some 
they are thought to be organs of hearing or of some special sense. 
They are freely supplied with nerves, and are jointed at the base 
so that they can be moved through the portion of the are of a 
circle. I have seen them sink down to the sides, and then rise 
in a step by step motion until they have attained their altitude, 
then sink and rise in the same way every six or eight seconds. 

We have in Fig. 21 a view of the stomach and other organs 
of the abdomen. ‘The air sac is attached to the upper part of 
the gullet or «esophagus. The latter tube possesses strong 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE. 55 
muscular rings, and gradually expands as it enters the stomach. 
This is a very expansible muscular bag, swelling out to a con- 
siderable size after a good meal of blood. It may be dissected 
into five coats. The outer consists of a network of trackeal or air 
tubes, below this are two coats of muscular fibres crossing each 
other at right angles. Then comes a thin structureless mem- 
brane, and lastly the lining membrane of the organ. From the 
lower portion of the stomach five blind tubes arise, they look 
as if they had been grafted on the organ; they rise parallel to 
the sides, then bending backwards, curl about the lower part of 
the abdomen, the outer end of each tube lying free in the cavity 
of the body. They are called the malpighian tubes, and are 
supposed to exercise functions similar to the liver. They appear 
to bs divided into angular partitions, and large circular cells ofa 
glandular nature dot their walls at regular intervals. A little 
lower on the screen lies the intestine. It is attached to the last 
segment of the body, showing the two terminal hooks. The 
whole of the organs of the abdomen are subject to a perisaltic 
motion ; they are drawn upwards towards the chest, and then 
thrust downwards with a regular rhythmic movement every few 
seconds. In the downward act, the muscular walls of the large 
intestine roll in concentric waves and force the contents 
onwards, and in the upward act the contents return to the end of 
the section in which they lie. There is thus a continual move- 
ment of the contents of the intestines, exposing them thoroughly 
to the digestive fluids. 

This is the interior of a female, and these two large pro- 
jections on each side are the egg sacs. In the unimpregnated 
state they are made up of clear globular cells, each with a 
nucleus not unlike two masses of colourless grapes. A big air- 
tube passes over the upper portion, giving off branches, which 
ramify not only over, but right through the egg mass. From 
one end of each sac, a tube leads to the lower orifice of the body, 
and when the eggs are ripe they pass down singly and are con- 
veyed to the outside, being placed into position by the terminal 
hooks on the body. At the lowest point of the slide is seen 
what appears to be one of the renal capsules. It is an oval 
brown vesicle. 

The parasites of Malarial fever have received a large amount 
of attention. Successive observers in various countries have 
been gathering up facts, and their life history is being steadily 
unravelled. Drs. Manson and Ross state that blood drawn from 
a malarial patient has a peculiar character. A large number of 


56 NOTES ON A MALARIA-CARRYING MOSQUITO 


the red corpuscles are filled with pale protoplasm. In it are a 
number of black specks or rods. These concentrate in the 
centre, the protoplasm arranging itself around forming a little 
rosette. The walls of the blood vessels collapsing, the rosette 
floats into the liquor sanguinis. Afterwards the rosette splits, 
the black clump remaining and spores are set free. Some of 
these penetrate red blood corpuscles, as pale specks. These 
soon begin to throw out feelers in various directions, at the same 
time wandering round the limits of the cell wall. ‘They increase 
in size by assimilating the haemoglobin. By-and-bye appear 
the characteristic specks of black pigment again. These little 
detached feelers which wander about the blood fluid, and 
penetrate corpuscles, appear to be of the nature of spermatozoa, 
and propagate the disease. And the problem that struck 
Manson was, how do they first find their way into the malarial 
patient. In studying the matter, he concluded that the 
mosquito was the most likely source. Not having the oppor- 
tunity of working out the subject thorougly, he enunciated his 
views and consulted with Dr. Ronald Ross, then about to proceed 
to India. By a series of most patient and careful experiments, 
he demonstrated some of the leading links in the process. 
Other experimentors look up the subject and none more 
enthusiastically than the Italian doctors, who have completed 
the subject. On Manson’s recent visit to Rome, Professor 
Grassi showed him the pigmented vermicule in the inside of the 
mosquito’s stomach. It had got there by being fed on the blood 
of a fever patient. Another specimen showed it penetrating the 
stomach wall between two epithelial cells. In another it rested 
in the interspace formed by the crossing of the muscular fibres. 
Then it was shown as a wart on the outer stomach wall. In the 
inside of this were seen the little black rods having gone through 
their cycle of development in the mosquito’s body. When the 
walls of the capsule gave way these rods passed into the 
mosquito’s body. Endowed with woving and penetrating 
powers, they travel along and easily penetrate the delicate skin 
of the poison and salivary glands. Sections of these glands 
were also shown him, actually containing large numbers of the 
little germinal rods, this clearly tiacking step by step the whole 
process from the blood of the patient up to the gland connected 
with the proboscis of the mosquito. Numerous experiments 
have been made on healthy Italian peasants, and recently Dr. 
Manson’s son offered himself as a subject. Pure Anopheles bred 
from larva were sent to Rome and allowed to bite fever patients. 


Proc. Itoy. Soc. Q’Lanp, Vou. xvt. Prats IV. 


sate it coae, 
: Se, 


dem 


SP aca cns 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE. 57 


Carefully protected from other contaminating influences, they 
were sent to London, and there permitted to bite young Manson. 
There in the English climate malarial fever was developed, and 
in his blood was seen the black pigmented and crescentic forms 
so characteristic of the disease. Italian doctors who have 
studied the subject, and whose opinion must carry weight, give 
their deliberate conviction that the mosquito is the only source 
of human infection. They believe that it does not originate 
from residence in a inalarial district. It cannot be received 
from drinking impure.water, neither is it spread from personal 
contact with a malarial patient, but solely by the bite of this 
peculiar species of mosquito. Being a blood disease, it requires 
a blood channel for its propagation, and this is found in this 
little insect. Break down the bridge of the mosquito and 
malaria will be stamped out. ‘A consummation devoutly to 
be wished.’”’ The scientists may be too sweeping in the asser- 
tion that the disease only originates in this way from a fever 
patient. Ido not think it has been proved that malaria does 
not exist in any other living creature ; if it does, that might be 
the original source. The question of it is only derived from a 
diseased patient, Where did the first mosquito receive it? This 
opens up a wide speculative field, but as the first mosquitoes 
are found in the Tertiary rocks of the Lower White River, 
Colorado, long before the beginning of human history, it is 
evident that the answer would be difficult tofind. The practical 
fact that this is the main source of contagion now is too clear to 
admit of doubt. 

Another fact of great value to the world has recently come 
to light in these researches. Medical men in tropical countries 
have a great many patients who are seriously ill, but yet there 
are either few peculiar symptoms, or they are of such a general 
character that the doetor cannot put them down to any special 
disease. A large number of these cases are of malarial origin, 
which can be determined by a simple examination of the blood. 
A few minutes with a good microscope now settles the question, 
which formerly worried for months earnest medical practitioners. 

I have another slide, Fig. 22, which I am sure will interest 
Mr. Pound. He knows a good deal about cattle ticks, and our 
pastoralists have been sore sufferers from their ravages. Ido 
not know whether they will derive any consolation from the 
fact that they are not the only sufferers, but that mosquitoes 
likewise suffer from ticks. And the cattle tick to them is but a 
pigmy. Comparatively speaking, these ticks would be about the 


58 NOTES ON A MALARIA-CARRYING MOSQUITO 


size of a man’s head to the human body. I caught a male 
Anopheles lately which looked sickly. He had good reason. 
Three ticks were boring into his neck, another on his chest, a 
fifth just below tbe insertion of the wing, and a sixth was 
affixed to the last segment of the abdomen. Here is a photo. of 
the last one. In colour they are of a warm orange approaching 
to red; possess six jointed legs, the body being oval, measuring 
one hundredth of an inch in diameter and a little more in length. 

Two more slides will complete our subject. The Anopheles 
male and female. The gentleman comes first, Fig. 23, because 
he is an innocent and good-hearted fellow. He never soils his 
lancets with blood. By nature and practice he is a strict 
vegetarian. The juices of fruit and the nectar of flowers are 
his banquet. Now then for his missus, Fig. 24. Could he only 
persuade his wife to follow his example we would not grumble- 
But the missus has a strong will of her own, and prefers the 
ruby wine of blood. 

Professor Celli states that the Anopheles do not make the 
humming sound so characteristic of the ordinary Culex, and 
persons may be bitten unconscious that they are near. Perhaps, 
like the littie black bush mosquito, they go straight to business 
without hovering around. Those that I have kept in captivity 
make as much noise as the ordinary variety. The sound is 
more shrill, and reminds me of nothing so much as the skirl of 
the Scottish bagpipes at a distance. 

During the day they are quiet, sometimes they will stand 
in one place for hours together. At the approach of sunset they 
become active, singing and flying continuously, as if that was 
their particular time for work and they were determined to make 
the most of it. 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE. 59 


INDEX TO PLATES. 


1.—Eggs of Anopheles, showing thin membrane on upper surface. 
2.—Larva. 
3.—Two segments of larva, showing epaulettes. 
4.—Single epaulette enlarged. 
5.—Pupa arising from larval form. 
6.— Perfect pupa. 
7.—Tracheal spiracle from head of pupa. 
8.—Insect escaping from pupa skin. 
9.—Natural attitude of Anopheles on wall. 
10.—Natural attitude of Culex or common mosquito. 
11.—Edge of wing showing fringing scales. 
12.—-Wing showing markings on nervures. 
13.—Female head showing palpi, nearly equal in length to proboscis. 
14.—Male head with plumose antenne and club-like palpi. 
15.—Lancets and barred palpi of female. 
16.—Proboscis of culex, showing base of maxillary lancets projecting 
backwards. 
17.—Prothoracic spiracle with tracheal tubes attached. 
18.—Air sac of male Anopheles, showing air vesicles. 
19.—Lancets and pump or reservoir. 
20.—Cup on base of lancet, with terminal tube from veneno salivary 
glands. 
21.—Stomach with Malpighian tubes, egg sacs at side, and one renal 
capsule at base. 
22.—Male Anopheles segment with claspers and tick attached to last 
segment. 
23.—Male Anopheles Pictus. 
24.—Female Anopheles Pictus. 


+ 
i 


LASS 6 J hod 
pond Se oss dee 


Pro. Roy. Soc. _— VoL. XVI. 


| 


oy 
L 


= : i 4 he Ms me 


Puate VY. 
100tas of a uM, 


saecesnes 


H. 


ameters. 


di 


SCALE. 


PHOTO-MICROGRAP 


Part of a Zeiss Stage Micrometer divided into 


THE 


Each small division represents a millimetre, 
and is equivalent to a micron magnified 1000 diameters. 


magnified 1000 


i 


AcTUAL 


APPLICATION OF THE SCALE TO THE Praises eee 


ees 
as 


=e 


Man Dyas 


acts 


‘OOOL X ‘a'toudsay, ao sainovg wtHy, 


LWT . a er ‘ Tyr . . 
TA d IAX "TOA “ANVT,() ‘00g AOY “Oug 


PHOTO-MIGROGRAPHY AND PHOTO- 
| MICROMETRY, 


(Pirates V.—VIII.) 


By JOHN THOMSON, M.B. (President). 


(Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 20th October, 1900. ) 


Tue ordinary working microscopist seldom refers'to the ampli- 
fication he is obtaining, but speaks of the objective and ocular 
he employs. He does not bother much with a stage or eye- 
piece micrometer—nor need he in his every day task—but 
should he desire to record his observations, either by drawing 
or by photography, it is important he should know the 
magnifications given by certain combinations and arrangements 
of his apparatus, and better still if these magnifications be of 
recognised standards. 

Looking at many, perhaps most, of the reproductions found 
in microscopical literature, one cannot but recognise their use- 
lessness for comparison purposes. Some, chiefly the drawings, 
represent scales difficult to calculate, such as 140 or 330 
diameters, perhaps with the units added as 148 or 837; others, 
mainly photographs, although originally perhaps of the value 
attached to them, as 500, 750, or 1000 diameters, have suffered 
at the hands of the photo-mechanical printer, and losing their 
true dimensions have ceased to be standards. 

As so much educational work is now done with the optical 
lantern, its 8} x 34 slide seems to be accepted as the recognised 
size of photo-micrographs, whether on glass or paper; and the 
usual masks having circular openings of 2%, 2,4, and 2 inches 
respectively appear admirably suited for the micrographs 
referred to. 

With the lower powers it may be impossible to insist on 
the use of standard amplifications, for something has to be 


62 PHOTO-MICROGRAPHY AND PHOTO-MICROMETRY 


sacrificed to pictorial effect, or a general or bird’s eye view has 
to be given, and the whole object crowded into the opening of 
the largest mask ; but, surely, with the higher magnifications, 
where the pictorial has given place to the diagrammatic, it would 
be perfectly practical to adhere to recognised numbers, as, say, 
125, 250, 500, 750, and 1000 diameters—perhaps the 750 might 
be omitted. 


These numbers can easily be obtained, verified and recorded 
by photography, for future reference. 


A stage micrometer is essential, preferably one cut to the 
10ths and 100ths of a millimetre rather than to the 100ths and 
1000ths of an inch, as the subsequent calculations by the former 
are much easier. I have six of these micrometers in my 
possession, one by Zeiss, and the other five by London makers, 
and I can strongly recommend the German slide as being 
infinitely cleaner and truer cut than any of the others. 


This slide is then placed on the stage and examined in the 
usual manner, care being taken that the microscope is at its 
best. The following items should then be carefully noted and 
recorded—whether the nose-piece is attached, and how this 
aftects the tube length—the condition of the draw-tube, and if 
extended, the readings of its scale—the eve-piece, if any, 
employed, and, if a projection one, the position of its spiral 
focussing arrangement. The camera is now attached to the 
microscope, and the joint made contact-tight, not merely light- 
tight. With a Hooke’s key the picture is readily focussed on 
the screen, and by using a metric rule and moving the camera 
bellows to and fro, the required scale is speedily found. Say 1000 
diameters are wanted. The 100th of a millimetre as cut on the 
stage micrometer must be magnified on the ground glass equal 
to 10 millimetres—that is, 1 centimetre. It is well to have a 
scale on the camera to show the bellows extension. Most 
cameras are so provided, but if not, it is a very simple matter to 
attach to the base-board a yard tape, or a piece of one. Now 
clamp the bellows and photograph the enlargement, and keep an 
aceurate record of the optical and mechanical arrangements, 
including the total distance from the slide on the stage to the 
ground glass screen, and it will be very easy on some other 
occasion to adjust the apparatus for similar amplification. 


With my own appliances I obtain 1000 diameters by using 
a 2 um (;;) apochromatic homogeneous immersion lens—short 
or Continental tube, with nose-piece attached—draw tube opened 


™ 


Puate VII. 


Pro. Roy. Soc. Q’zanp, Von. xvi. 


X 1000. 


THE Bacinuus or PLaGunr. 


b 7 @ 
Le) » & » 
, & ‘+. i] 
: a aS ae Sa teehee } es Sa a th ha Caled Ratio aitiy ly) a 
oor, 5) eee Pt tan ‘ Serr iate mal 
P 
7 ‘ 
: 
» v . 
: ; x 
7 ; 
a a 
% . Ain 
| 
4 u 
: : 
7 ‘ ‘ 
: 
4 
| 
! 
- ‘ 7 ” 
: 
' 
. x . . 
F P 
. i 
ms . 
re : : 


Prats. VIII, 


Pro. Roy. Soc. Q’tanp, Von. xvt. 


BY JOHN THOMSON, M.B. 63 


to 140 of its scale—projection eye-piece No. 4 set to 2 on its 
collar—and a bellows extension giving 293 inches between the 
stage and the focussing screen. 

All photo-micrographs obtained under these conditions will 
represent a magnification of 1000 diameters; but it may be 
necessary to prove this, to demonstrate it to others, or to find a 
means of measuring and comparing other prints of similar 
amplification, and by means of another scale this can be effected. 

The basis of this scale is the micron, known by the symbol 
p—the unit of microscopic measurement—the 1,000,000th of a 
metre, or the 1000th of a millimetre, or, practically, the 
=sipoth of an inch; and yet there are many objects constantly 
under observation which are but fractional parts of a micron. 

To prepare this scale, draw on a smooth surfaced piece of 
Bristol board an area of 10 inches square, and divide it vertically 
and horizontally by 100 lines, each 10th line both ways, being 
intense. Reduce this scale by the ordinary methods of photo- 
graphy until each 100th division is exactly millimetric, and each 
10th, or broad line, centimetric. The millimetres on the 
negatives are equivalent to micra magnified 1000 diametres. A 
glass positive or transparency from this, when varnished or 
collodionised for protection, can be used as a scale, and if the 
varnished surface is imposed on the object to be measured there 
is an absence of parallax. This scale can also be printed on 
the same glass or paper positive as, and with, the object, and 
the dimensions of the latter are at once, and graphically, 
apparent. This double process is very simple. Submit the 
class or paper to the scale negative, by contact, in a printing 
frame, with a short exposure ; then change the glass or paper to 
the object negative, and give a full exposure ; develop, and the 
results should be satisfactory. Of course negatives are required 
of sufficient density to give contrast. 

I need hardly add that the scale I have described is for a 
magnification of 1000 diameters, and that any other amplification 
must have its special scale. 


Proc Roy. Soc. Q’tanp, Vow. xvi. Puate IX. 


AUSTRALASIAN WOODBORING HEPLALIDAE, 


Charagia daphnandra “ Lucas,” C. eximia “ Scott,” C. ramsayi 
‘¢ Scott,’’ C. Virescens ‘*Dbld.”’ 


(Piate IX.) 


By R. ILLIDGE 
AND 


AMBROSE QUAIL, F.E.S. (London.) 


[Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, December Sth, 1900.) 


Iv has been a very great pleasure to the writer to examine the 
living larve, pup, &c., of three species of this interesting group 
of lepidoptera, viz., C. daphnandrae, C. eximia, C. ramsayi, from 
Queensland, as we have also been making enquiry into the 
life history of C. virescens, a New Zealand species of similar 
habits and closely allied to the above. Mr. Illidge attached 
descriptive labels to the sticks of wood which contained the 
larve, and furnished notes from time to time on the habits of 
the several species under observation. 

While unpacking one of these parcels, a Maori saw the 
larvee and exclaimed ‘‘ they are very sweet food,’’ and when 
informed that they were from Australia, he said they were very 
like the New Zealand grubs which are in “‘ white pine’ and the 
** houhere ’’ — (thousand jacket), the former —a Longicorne 
Coleopteron, he said they eat raw, but the latter — Charagia 
virescens, cannot be eaten raw, but is very nice food when 
roasted. ‘‘ Houhere”’ is the Hoheria populnea—‘‘ Cunn,”’ in 


which we have found C. virescens larve. 
E 


66 AUSTRALASIAN WOODBORING HEPIALIDAE 


Ova. 


We obtained imagines of C. virescens plentifully during the 
month of September this year, by searching treetrunks in the 
bush where they were known to be. They emerge half an hour 
or so before dark, and the males take flight within half an hour 
after dark. In consequence of the wings being limp when first 
taken they were placed in a rather large breeding cage, having 
gauze sides, so that though for some time a dozen of each sex were 
_in this cage together, none were observed to copulate. This was 
rather a surprise as we thought the close proximity of the sexes 
would induce copulation. The females commenced to deposit 
ova immediately after dark, and in a short time there were 
countless numbers of ova at the bottom of the cage. 

One pair were kept together until they died, # on the 
third day ? on the fourth, they were never seen in copulation, 
but the female deposited ova every evening. The abdomen 
of the female was opened aftee it died, and the space within was 
at the thoracic end, the pressure of the remaining ova being 
towards the anal extremity of the abdomen. 

The ova within the abdomen are connected by a continuous 
thread-like tissue, and are yellowish in colour, they are extruded 
automatically at random, and must in a state of nature fall to 
the ground about the roots of the trees upon which the females 
probably rest while depositing. The ova of C. virescens are 
spherical and smooth, when first extruded they are yellowish, 
but in a few hours become black in colour. A female C. eximia 
which emerged during the journey from Queensland, commenced 
to deposit ova freely the first evening after its release from 
durance vile. The ova of C. eximia are very much smaller 
than those of C. virescens, they are spherical, smooth, 
yellowish at first, and afterwards become black in colour. 

Hitherto we believe there is no record of the colour change 
in ova of C. virescens: Hudson says* ‘‘ The female lays an 
enormous number of small, round, yellowish eggs.” With 
regard to the Australian Charagia, the eggs ‘‘are of a pale yellow 
colour, but soon turn to a slaty gray hue’”’ (Illidge), there is a 
grayish hue on the ova of C. eximia, which we have also 
observed on the ova of C. virescens, and of some Porina, but 
cannot detect it under the microscope. It is important to 
note this colour change which we suspect is characteristic of 
the whole group, and the real colour of the eggshell is black 


* New Zealand Macro Lepidoptera. 


BY R. ILLIDGE AND AMBROSE QUAIL, F.E.S. (LONDON). 67 


and remains so after exclusion of the larva in Hepialus, Charagia, 
and Porina. 
The ova obtained were all infertile. 


Larve. 
These insects live throughout the larval and pupal existence 
within the branches and trunks of trees. C. daphnandre in 


Eugenia, Daphnandra, Tristania, Hucalyptus, &e. (Illidge), C. 
eximia in Melaleuca, &c. (Illidge), C. virescens we have taken 
commonly in Hoheria, which is stated to be restricted to New 
Zealand, but Hudson gives also Olea, Aristotelia, Leptospermum, 
and Melicope, which include Australia in their range of 
geographical distribution. It has been noted elsewhere* (Illidge) 
that the food of these larve consists largely of the sap of the 
tree. We have often observed that if wood containing larve of C. 
virescens is turned upside down, the fluid contents, undoubtedly 
sap, will run out of the inverted burrows. 

The burrows of Charagia are horizontal in the first part, 
and then perpendicularly downwards; the entrance is wider 
than the continuation, and has an external cover from the first 
constructed of silk with particles of bark worked in, making it 
inconspicuous. ; 

(I.) C. daphnandre constructs a very loose external cover 
much exceeding the size of the burrow entrance ; just prior to 
the pupal stage an inner operculum is constructed horizontally 
covering the perpendicular shaft. The length of burrow varied 
from four to nine inches (Illidge). 

(II.) C.eximia forms an extremely stout external cover, and 
the prepupal operculum is inner to the external cover not hori- 
zontal as in the other species. Length of burrow, one to three feet 
or more (Illidge). 

(III.) OC. ramsayi also forms a stout external cover, but 
instead of an operculum as in the preceding species, spins a web 
of pure glistening silk around and over the opening, as do also 
C. splendens, C. lewinii, and C. lignivora It is worthy of note 
that these four species which spin the silken web inner to the 
external protecting cover before pupating should be all strongly 
adorned with silvery markings, whereas those which form the 
operculum are either devoid of such or have only traces of them. 
They thus seem to fall naturally into two groups. 

(IV.) C. virescens constructs a compact close-fitting 
external cover, and the prepupal operculum is horizontal to the 


* Proc. Roy. Soc. Q’land, Vol. x1v. 


68 AUSTRALASIAN WOODBORING HEPIALIDAE 


perpendicular shaft as in C. daphnandre. Length of burrow, 
about one foot. ‘ 
The larve of each species can hang by a thread of silk, and 
we have noticed that the perpendicular shaft of C. virescens is 
thinly lined with silk threads. Unfortunately, we have no 
description of the newly-hatched larve of either species. Apart | 
from the interesting habits of these insects, we hope a descrip- 
tion of their structure will have a scientific value. It is hardly 
necessary to mention that these larve are bilaterally symmetrical, 
and the segments are as follows :—Head, Pro-Meso, Postthorax, 
each with a pair of legs, and ten abdominal segments, some of 
which have feet.* 
(I.) C. daphnandre larve live nearly two years (Illidge) ; 
at six months the length is about 3 inch. Colour: Head, dark 
reddish brown; Prothorax, pale brown scutellum ; remaining 
segments, cream colour. Spiracles are brown with outer rims. 
Thoracic legs, brown. Abdominal feet and claspers, cream 
colour with dark brown terminal hooks. Sets are brown with 
minute blunt thorns. The skin is comparatively smooth. The 
head is larger than succeeding segments, larva tapers to anus. 
Head: striated, sete numerous; ocelli, six in number on 
each lobe, arranged in two rows of three each, they are yellow 
-with a black area on inner side; antenne are immediately 
anterior to the two lowest ocelli ; spinneret is long and slender. 
Prothorax: anterior edge of scutellum darker with a 
marginal series of set equidistant; a midlateral concavity or 
scutellum is apparently lined with soft down-like hairs, within 
the concavity are three sete, and below it one seta. The 
spiracle is immediately posterior, below the scutellum, and about 
twice the size of the abdominal spiracles; anterior to the legs a 
tubercle bears two setie, on base of legs are two anterior and one 
posterior hairs, and at the lower end of each joint there are 
several hairs. 
Mesothorax: a small anterior subsegment bears the dorsal 
(trapezoidal?) tubercles with one seta, and a small lateral : 
tubercle with one seta. The larger subsegment bears on 
either side a marginal series of three equidistant sete, 
and one posterior lateral seta all on one well defined area 


* Abdominal feet proposed by Dr. Sharp to be used instead of the older 
term prolegs, pro being usually the term for anterior, whereas in larve the 
thoracic legs—identical with imaginal legs, are the anterior legs. The term 
abdominal feet seems more appropriate. 


BY R, ILLIDGE AND AMBROSE QUAIL, F.E.S. (LONDON). 69 


{equivalent to the prothoracic scutellum), below are a central 
and a lower anterior tubercle each with one seta. 


Postthorax corresponds with Mesothorax but has a less 
distinct scutellum like area. 


Abdominal segments 1 to 8 have spiracles, 4 to 6 have 
abdominal feet, and 10 has claspers. Segmental incisions are 
composed of two minor subsegments without tubercles or sete, 
the large middle subsegments bear all tubercles. Anterior 
(dorsal) trapezoidal bears one seta, posterior (subdorsal) tubercle 
one seta, supraspiracular (lateral) tubercle bears one long one 
short sete, it is below the anterior trapezoidal ; the spiracle is 
slightly anterior below the supraspiracular tubercle; a little 
lower are the two subspiracular tubercles posteror to the spiracle, 
almost in line, each bearing a remote seta; a lower anterior 
tubercle bears one seta, and a subventral tubercle bears two sete. 
The abdominal feet bear four anterior setz on base (these corres- 
pond to the subventral tubercle with two sets and two ventral 
setze). Segment 9 has anterior and post dorsal tubercles each 
with one seta; anterior and post subdorsal tubercles each with 
one seta ; two tubercles each with a single seta, one below other 
on posterior edge of segment; a subventral tubercle with two 
sete. Segment 10 has two dorsal tubercles, two lateral 
tubercles, each with one seta; immediately posterior to the anal 
flap there is a tubercle with one seta on either side, There are 
four setz on the base of claspers. 


Ventrally anterior to each prothoracic leg there is one seta ; 
posterior to each thoracic leg one seta, these can be observed 
also on the inner side at the base of the abdominal feet. On 
abdomen 1, 2, there are two tubercles with one seta each 
(already mentioned), outer to the leg seta on 7, 8, there is only 
one tubercle outer to the leg tubercle, and on 9 there is only the 
leg tubercle with one seta. Terminal hooks of the abdominal 
feet are one central row of strong hooks and one outer row of 
smaller hooks, the circle is incomplete on the outer side; the 
claspers have two rows of similar hooks but only on the inner 
side of claspers. 


C. daphnandre at twelve months length is about 1,°, inch. 
Head not noticeably larger than other segments, which are 
uniform to about 7 abdominal; 8, 9, 10 taper somewhat 
smaller. The principal subsegments are swollen in appearance 
and the incisions very pronounced. Colour similar to early 


70 AUSTRALASIAN WOODBORING HEPIALIDAE 


stage but with a reddish tinge and a thin mid dorsal line. Head is 
very dark brown. In every detail of structure it corresponds 
with younger larva. 

C. daphnandra full fed at nearly two years; length about 2 
inches. Head smaller than Prothorax, abdominal segments 4 
to 7 are slightly larger than anterior or posterior segments. 
Head very dark brown; prothoracic scutellum pale brown; 
thoracic and abdominal segments dirty yellowish white; anal 
segment reddish colour. A_ slight mid dorsal line of 
brownish colour, and segmental incisions are reddish. The 
structure as preceeding, black concavity of scutellum has three 
sets ; terminal hooks of abdominal feet are incomplete on outer 
side, claspers likewise as before described. Set# retain minute 
blunt thorns. 

(II.) OC. eximia larve live (?) two years, at nearly twelve 
months length is 1} inch. Colour: Head mahogany red; Pro- 
thorax light brown ; thoracic and abdominal segments 
cream colour, with greenish mid dorsal line and incisions. 
Tapers from head to anus. As regards structure, the position 
of tubercles and number of setie exactly corresponds with C. 
daphnandre. Black concavity of scutellum contains three sete 
and one below. The spiracles of abdominal segments are well 
forward on anterior edge of principle subsegment. Circle of 
terminal hooks is complete on abdominal feet, but the claspers 
have only the inner rows of hooks. Sete are almost 
smooth but have a few minute thorns near base. Head of 
larva very much smoother than C. daphnandre and it is 
shining. 

C. eximia full fed at nearly two years, length about 2 
inches. Colour: Head red brown; Prothorax pale brown; 
thoracic and abdominal segments are cream with pinkish tinge. 
All segments about same size, except 9, 10 abdominal, which are 
smaller. Can only distinguish one seta within the black con- 
cavity of scutellum. Terminal hooks, two very distinct rows 
encircling extremity of abdominal feet, of claspers as before 
described. 

(III.) C. ramsayi (?) two years, length 2 inches. Colour : 
Head dark brown, striated; Prothorax scutellum, pale brown 
with rosy tinge; thoracic and abdominal segments yellowish, 
thin darker mid dorsal line. Segments apparently uniform in 
size to 9,10. Terminal hooks of abdominal feet complete, of 
anal claspers like a figure 8 without hooks, posteriorily as in C. 
virescens. Tubercle sete smooth. Skin smooth. 


BY R. ILLIDGE AND AMBROSE QUAIL, F.E.S. (LONDON). 71 


C. ramsayi full fed length 8 inches. Colour: Head reddish 
brown; Prothorax, very pale brown; thoracic and abdominal 
segments, yellowish. Head smaller than Prothorax, abdominal 
segments 3 to 7 are larger than the anterior and posterior segments. 
Prothorax scutellum has within the black concavity three sete. 
Terminal hooks of abdominal feet complete, anal claspers as 
before described. Tubercle sete smooth. Skin smooth. 

(IV.) ©. virescens live (?) three years, there is a great 
difference between the larve which may be regarded as full fed, 
some about 3 inches, some about 4 inches, it is not improbable 
that the larve which produce female imagines, live a year 
longer than those which produce males. The larve of C. 
virescens are described elsewhere,* but it may be worth noting 
that the black concavity of scutellum contains three sets in 
young larve, but one only in adult larve, likewise in young 
larve the terminal hooks of abdominal feet are incomplete, but 
in full fed larve they completely encircle the extremity of the 
abdominal feet. It might also be worth mention that these 
larve, and probably the other species also, vary in colour much 
in accord with the colour of the sap wood in which they feed. 


Pups. 

The pupal stage is of short duration, ‘‘ from six weeks 
to occasionally as long as three months (Illidge). 

(1.) C.daphnandre pupa. Colour: Head and prothorax 
very dark brown, remaining segments are yellowish brown 
with reddish shading on posterior edge of segments, spines 
and spiracles are dark brown. 

Head dorsally and ventrally, dorsum of Prothorax, and 
anterior dorsal area of Mesothorax are deeply pitted and 
striated in a manner resembling that of the larval caput. The 
wing cases extend to the anterior edge of abdominal 3; antenne 
extend only to base of wing cases of which the second pair of legs 
forms the costal margins, the first pair of legs are inner to 
the second. Margin of hind wing cases show a little at the 
outer margin of the fore wing cases. Abdominal segment 1 is 
dorsal, small and without spiracles ; 2 has spiracles subdorsal 
and apparently partly covered by edge of wing cases; 3 to 6 
have normal spiracles in lateral position, these segments 
also bave sete—small but definite, which correspond in 
number and rosition to the larval tubercle sete ; 7, 8, have scars 
of spiracles, the four terminal segments are fused together. 


* Proc. Roy. Soc. Q’land, Vol. xv, and Trans. Eritom. Soc. London, 1900. 


72 AUSTRALASIAN WOODBORING HEPIALIDAF. 


Dorsal spines commence on the posterior edge of Meso and 
Postthoracic segments, abdominal 1, 2, have an anterior ridge 
of spines; 8 to 7 have anterior and posterior series, the spines 
of anterior series being strongest, and of 7 more so than the 
others. 

Ventral spines, a few posterior on segment 38, a strong 
undulating series posterior on 4, 5, 6, an anterior discon- 
nected series and a posterior series on 7, the latter not so 
strong as those of other segments; 8 to 10 are smooth. 

(II.) C. eximia pupa appears to correspond in all details 
of structure with C. daphnandre. 

(IV.) ©. virescens pupa compared with C. daphnandre 
has a smaller dorsal segment 1, the spines of the abdominal 
segments are also stronger in the former, this may be associated 
with the greater length of the burrows. 

When the time for emergence of the imago arrives, the 
pupa ‘by alternately extending and contracting the segments ”’ 
(Illidge) aided by the spines, forces its way up the perpendicular 
shaft, through the prepupal operculum and external cover (when 
the latter has not been removed prior to pupation). The 
species with short horizontol burrows extend the anterior pupal 
segments beyond ; C. virescens which usually has long 
horizontal burrows, remains wholly within the entrance. 

On dehiscence the pupa ruptures longitudinally from the 
dorsal posterior edge of Mesothorax to the ventral extremity of 
wing cases, and the sutures of the Pro-meso, and meso-post 
thoracic segments become partially split, the ventral head 
piece with antennal case becomes wholly detached, but the 
leg cases appear to remain intact, though I am not sure that in 
some instances the cases of first pair of legs become partially 
severed from the second pair. 

The remarkable identity of structure in all stages is a 
clear indication of very close relationship between Charagia 
daphnandre, C. eximia, C. ramsayi, and C. virescens. 


EXPLANATION OF PLATE. 


I. C. daphnandre prothorax Ist year (x 4). 


1 ¥ 3rd abdominal segment (x 4). 

Til. 3 10th 3 5 

IV. . anterior pupal segments (x 4). 

V. as posterior ,, sxe): 

Vil. 3 Terminal hooks of abdominal feet 


VII. C. eximia Dehisced pupal headpiece (nat. size) 


. 
: 
: 


QUEENSLAND LEPIDOPTERA. 


By THOMAS P. LUCAS, M.R.CS., Eng. 
L.S.A., Lonp., L.B.C.P., Enuw. 


[Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 16th February, 1901. | 


ARCTIADA. 
CHOOREECHILLUM, NOY. GEN. 

Head smooth. Tongue well developed. Palpi short, 
loose scaled. Antenne in 6 ciliated. Thorax smooth 
beneath. Abdomen moderate. Tibi smooth scaled, posterior 
tibice with spurs moderately developed. Forewings, 2 from 4, 
8 and 4 connate, 7 and 8 out of 9, 10 connected with 9. 
Hindwings, 2 from beyond 4, 8 from angle, 6 and 7 stalked, 
8 anastomosing with cell to middle. 


CHOOREECHILLUM DISTITANS, NOV. SP. 

$ 60 TM. Head black ; face orange. Palpi ferrous, tipped 
with black. Antenne black. Thorax, black on dorsum, orange at 
sldes, with small dots of black surrounded by orange. Abdomen 
orange, with black dorsal segmental bands and lines of black 
dots laterally. Legs black. Forewings broadly dilate, costa 
gently rounded, hindmargin rounded, black with a broad white 
median fascia, narrowing toward middle and diverging again on 
inner margin; a small white dot in posterior band of black at 
3 costa, two small elongate white streaks near apex opposite 
hindmargin, and a fourth opposite anal angle. Cilia black. 
Hindwings, as forewings, with white median band filling half 
wing; one very minute white dot opposite middle hindmargin. 
Cilia black. One specimen from the late Mr. Handley, taken 
near Cairns. Another in Brisbane Museum. 

SYNTOMIDIDA. 
SYNTONIS LUCTA, NOV. SP. 

4 2 22-28 TILT. Head, palpi, and antennae black. Thorax 
black, collar orange. Abdomen orange, with narrow black seg- 
ment rings, anal segment black. Forewings narrow, costa 


74 QUEENSLAND LEPIDOPTERA 


gently rounded, hindmargin very obliquely rounded, black, with 
ochreous spots, more or less suffused with orange red. Fore- 
wings with first two spots across middle of wing, subcostal one 
small, broader posteriorly, inner one elongated toward but not 
as far as anal angle; the second row of three dots are small, the 
subcostal one linear, and alone, the inner two contiguous divided 
only by vein four. Cilia black. Hind wings orange red, with a 
fine black line dividing off one fourth costal portion, and bor- 
dered by deep black, narrow on inner margin and inner half of 
hind margin, and thence covering anal half of wing. Cilia as 
forewings. Bellenden Ker Lucas-Rye Expedition. 


BOMBYCID/s. 
BOMBYX FRUGALIS, NOV. SP. 

$35 mm. Head, palpi, thorax, and abdomen sepia fuscous, 
or smoky brown. Antennae, stalk ochreous white, pectinations 
ochreous yellow, 1—4, narrowing rapidly before apex. Fore- 
wings costa straight, apex rounded, hindmargin gently rounded ; 
sepia fuscous or smoky brown. Forewings costa darker 
fuscous, veins reddish fuscous, a small diffused discal sy-ot black, 
a few scattered irrorated white scales on borders, and a darker 
suffusion on inner margin. Cilia darker than ground colour of 
wing. Hindwings as forewings. Cilia whitish grey with 
fuscous line at base, and sending transverse bars across. 
Brisbane at light. 

BOMBYX FIGURATA, NOY. SP. 

5 32 mm. 2 45 mm. Head rich chocolate fuscous, face 
reddish ochreous. Palpi reddish ochreous, fringed with cho- 
colate fuscous. Antenne, stalk chocolate fuscous, pectinations 
reddish ochreous. Thorax fuscous drab, with a white and 
fuscous irrorated band or collar, a whitish line continuous with 
costa of forewings, and posteriorly a conspicuous broad white 
patch on either side. Abdomen grey white, with anal segment 
fringed with fuscous hairs. Forewings, costa gently arched, 
hindmargin rounded, woolly white, with fuscous and chocolate 
bands and lines; fine costal chocolate line thinning at apex, a 
broad transverse wavy chocolate band near base from costa to 
opposite } inner margin ; a second curved band from } inner 
margin, with three waves to median vein, thence bent at right- 
angles along median to 3; the transverse half is lighter fuscous 
between boundary lines, and the median vein half contains three 
conspicuous white dots; a third band curves round from 2 
costa, and parallel with hind margin, to = inner margin, 


| 


a ee 


BY THOMAS P. LUCAS, M.R.C.S. 75 


anterior border toothed, centre of band light grey, the costal 
spacé divided by portion of second band on median line, ahd 
bounded by first band and by a third band, is suffused with light 
fuscous ; a rich chocolate line extends from before apex of costa 
in short waves to before anal angle; a submarginal lighter line 
is connected with a finer marginal line by short bars. Cilia 
light fuscous. Hindwings woolly white, with a few light 
fuscous hairs on costal margin, and a pale fuscous suffused spot 
near anal angle. The 9 is larger, is similarly marked, but 
has a smudged appearance, as the ground colour is ashy 
erey, and the marks, both the darker boundary lines and the 
enclosed spaces are of a much less definite tint, and appear as if 
smudged with ashy grey. One pair taken by Mr. [Illidge, 
Brisbane. 


BOMBYX EFFUSA, NOV. SP. 


4 34-88 mm. Head, palpi and antennae ferrous fuscous. 
Thorax black, almost hidden by long hairs of deep ferrous fuscous, 
inclining to purple. Thorax fuscous with more or less scattered 
black hairs. Forewings, costa gently rounded toward apex, 
hind margin rounded, fuscous, with diffusions of deep black, 
markings of ferrous or chocolate, and ochreous white lines. 
Forewings, costa edged with deep fuscous inclining in some 
specimens to black; base of wing ferrous black extending as 
a black line one-fourth along inner border; a rich bar of 
black from } inner margin to median vein, nearing base of 
wing ; this is bordered posteriorly by two circular star-rayed 
ferrous figures, resembling sea anemones, the encircling rays 
annulated with white, a third like figure extends to subcostal 
area, and a fourth runs along subcostal area, but darker and 
without the ferrous; the four form a chain concave posteriorly, 
bordered by a rich chocolate discal spot, edged on both borders 
with white; a wavy dentate band from 2 of costa to # of 
inner border, variously coloured black and white lines, and 
more or less tinted with ferrous red; from this band whitish 
ochreous lines run along the veins to a sub hindmarginal 
line of black, forming cells more or less tinted with red ferrous ;. 
all borders white; a rich black line in middle of inner mar- 
gin forms the base of a ground colour area, and continues as a. 
black line, bordering the star figures anteriorly, and united with 
the second fascia posteriorly ; a hind marginal band of white: 
spots bordered with ferrous, or black. Cilia grey based with 
fuscous. Hindwings, fuscous grey to smoky grey. Cilia as. 


76 QUEENSLAND LEPIDOPTERA 


forewings. Lucas-Rye Expedition, Bellenden Ker. The variety 
of: colour is very remarkable, being scarcely the same in two 
specimens. 

PINARA PERVICAX, NOV. SP. 

& 2 30-386 m m. Head, thorax, and abdomen chocolate 
fuscous. Abdomen in @ lighter fuscous. Palpi chocolate 
fuscous, terminal joint in % tipped with fuscous black. Antennae, 
stalk chocolate fuscous, pectinations lighter in ? 1-1, in @ 1-4, 
rapidly narrowing to base and apex. Forewings rich chocolate 
fuscous, veins darker brown, costa gently rounded toward apex, 
apex angled, hindmargin gently rounded, discal dot before half 
very small, black or fuscous, brokenly bordered with white, a 
line of not very distinct fuscous dots from } inner margin to 
apex of costa. Cilia brownish fuscous. Hindwings chocolate 
fuscous, lighter and redder toward base, veins darker. Cilia as 
forewings. Brisbane, a pair at light. 


LIPARIDAS. 
ARTAXA USTA, NOV. SP. 

é 18 mm. Head ochreous orange. Palpi reddish fuscous 
Antennae, stalk reddish fuscous, pectinatious ochreous. Thorax 
ochreous fuscous. Abdomen reddish fuscous. Forewings costa 
arched, hind margin oblique, almost straight, ochreous, with 
ferrous and red dots and markings. Forewings, costa with 
scattered minute ferrous red dots; a faint reddish ochreous line 
from 3 inner margin to costa at apex; a discal ferrous dot with 
suffusion, and enclosing yellow dots in middle of wing, near end 
of cell, gives a scorched or burned appearance, a line of small 
dots from this discal spot to inner margin; two small black 
blotches and a small dot on hind margin nearest to inner margin 
with burnt appearance suffusion; veins prominent; a hind- 
marginal reddish or ferrous suffusion. Cilia reddish ochreous 
with darker basal line. Hindwings ochreous. Cilia as fore- 
wings. Lucas-Rye Bellenden Ker Expedition. One specimen. 


LIMACODID. 
DORATIPHORA COLLIGANS, NOV. SP. 
$28 mn. Head and thorax light ochreous. Palpi fuscous, 
terminal joint tipped with ochreous. Antennae, stalk light 
ochreous, pectinations ochreous fuscous. Forewings costa 
straight, apex rounded, hindmargin strongly rounded, ochreous 
white or wool colour. Forewings with costa and hindmargin 
finely edged with a light fuscous line; light fuscous tufts at 
base, and lines of same indistinctly parallel to costa in costal 


BY THOMAS P. LUCAS, M.R.C.S. TE 


half to middle of wings; a light fuscous band from costa 
parallel to hind border to before } inner margin, costal half 
paler ; a second ill defined, paler line beyond; a patch of 
minute black specks on costal third of wing from + to 4 costa ; 
a rich band of chocolate colour bars from + costa to inner 
margin before anal angle. Cilia whitish grey. Hindwings 
light reddish ochreous. Cilia as forewings. One specimen, 
. Brisbane. 
DORATIPHORA QUADRIDENS, NOV. SP. 

& 2 30-34 mm. Head ochreous white. Palpi reddish 
fuscous. Antennae, stalk ochreous white, pectinations fuscous- 
Thorax reddish fuscous. Abdomen reddish fuscous, rather 
lighter than thorax. Forewings costa gently wavy, apex 
rounded, hindmargin bowed, reddish fuscous diffused with tints. 
of ochreous and shades of red. Forewings costa finely edged 
with fuscous, broken up into fine dots and freely irrorated in 


costal area with fuscous and white scales; at 2 a band of four 
conspicuous white spots in disc, the third often divided into two, 
bordered and banded by rich fuscous shading suffusion toward 
costa and extending as a line to centre of wing, with a small 
fuscous dot half way to inner margin; a suffused shading of 
fuscous along hindmargin. Cilia fuscous tinted with pink, and 
banded with a line of darker fuscous. Hindwings, colour of fore- 
wings, but shading ochreous white to basal half. Cilia as fore- 
Wings, inner margin ochreous white. Found feeding on the 
Pteris, or common bracken fern. It is a finely coloured cater- 
pillar, with stinging spines, which discharge an irritant poison 
into the hand which carelessly seizes it. Mr. Tyron first reared 
this species. Drisbane, rare. 
GEOMETRINA. 
GEOMETRID™. 
HYPOCHROMA PURPURISSATA, NOV. SP. 

9 44m m. Head ochreous fulvous. -Palpi black, Antennae 
purplish fuscous. Thorax fuscous, freely irrorated with grey and 
black. Abdomen ochreous fuscous, with bands of irrorated 
black scales across the segments, and laterally diffused with 
golden yellow. Forewings costa, nearly straight, hindmargin 
gently crenulate, apical half straight, anal half sharply bowed, 
fuscous grey, freely diffused with purple, and dotted with silver 
specks, and red and grey scales, with fuscous and black*markings. 
Forewings costa finely edged with black ; basal fascia bowed out- 
ward, darkest along the veins; a second broad fascia from 4+ 


4 
costa to + inner margin, costal third narrowed to a line, and 


‘78 QUEENSLAND LEPIDOPTERA, 


more or less communicating with basal fascia by diffused inter- 
rupted black lines, the whole space between the lines freely 
tinted with reddish yellow; an elongated discal spot obliquely from 
near costa at 4, not touching costal area; a deep broad fascia 
beyond, anterior border from % costa, straight and denticulates 
a deep black line for one-third across wing, then deeply bowed 
outwardly, and bent at a right angle over vein 2, straight to 
2 inner margin, posterior border rich black line from $ costa to. 
anal angle inner margin, costal half finely denticulate, thence 
deeply dentate and again finely denticulate to inner margin ; this 
line is bordered anteriorly with a conspicuous white line, the 
enclosed fascia is suffused posteriorly with purplish ground 
colour, but anteriorly and middle is freely covered with fuscous 
and black dentate bars and lines; beyond this fascia the wing is 
suffused with fuscous in middle and before hind thirds, and some 
of the dentations of the posterior line are prolonged to hind 
margin; a hindmarginal fuscous very fine crenulate line, the 
wave crests dotted with rich black. Costa grey, dusted with 
darker grey and white. Hindwings as forewings, with first 
transverse fascia circularly expanded and spread to 4 inner 
margin; the anterior border line of second fascia is black wavy 
denticulate, and doubled, the posterior border line is spread out 
as a sub-hindmarginal band, and is more or less suffused with 
red and ground colour ; the inner half of wing is clouded with 
black and fuscous, interspersed towards borders with red and 
ground colour; hindmarginal line as forewings. Cilia as fore- 
wings. Under surface of forewings rich black, shading to grey 
toward base, and with conspicuous triangle of white in dise, and 
a large rich black discal spot, a row of small white dots parallel 
with hindmargin at 3; costal area, and base of wings orange, 
with red area along middle third. Hindwings, inner half rich 
orange with a small black discal spot subtending a white line 
extending to black border; outer half deep black. Costa of all 
wings whitish grey, sparingly irrorated with fuscous. One 
specimen from Herberton, Queensland. 
HYPOCHROMA MUNITA, N. SP. 

$38 m m. Head green, face greenish buff, with a rich 
chocolate band between the eyes. Palpi fuscous. Antennae 
greenish ochreous, stalk ochreous. Thorax green, patagia 
lighter green. Abdomen greenish ochreous, with bluish white 
grey bands fringing each segment, and with chocolate lined 
figure on dorsum of each, the three posterior ones suffused with 
fuscous, no mark on two last segments. Forewings, costa nearly 


BY THOMAS P. LUCAS, M.R.C.S. 79 


straight, hindmargin gently rounded, green, with ochreous scales | 
and marked with purple, fuscous and suffused fuscous and with 
the veins ochreous ; costa freely irrorated with short purplish 
fuscous lines ; a waved black line four times broadly dentate, 
from a blotch 4 costa to + inner margin ; a second circular line 
with seven narrow tooth-like projections, from 2 costa to 2 inner 
margin ; two small dots in disc between, nearer costa; a broad 
suffused fascia extends half way from second line toward hind- 
margin, but is not well defined near costa, and it diverges sharply 
just before inner margin to anal angle; this fascia is freely 
dusted with purple dots and fuscous shades, and contains an 
ochreous band before anal angle, which is divided by a black 
line into two conspicuous spots, the posterior border of the fascia 
is more of an indigo, and is bordered by a dull green line ; hind- 
marginal row of minute black lunar dots, and a dark fuscous 
suffusion over middle third to hindmargin. Cilia grey green, 
barred with darker lines. Hindwings as forewings, first line 
wanting, second line with outer fascia absent in middle and form- 
ing two conspicuous blotches near apical and anal angles. Cilia as 
forewings. Under surface of wings silky white, with broad 
hindmarginal black band and an elongated Junar black line in 
disc. Cairns, Queensland. . 


HYPOCHROMA ASSIDENS, NOV. SP. 


$ 42 mm. Head ochreous fuscous, with a decided fulvous 
tint. Palpi, second joint fulvous fuscous, upper surface fuscous 
ochreous shading fuscous towards base, third joint fulvous 
ochreous. Antennae fulvous ochreous, pectinations fuscous, 
Thorax fulvous ochreous, freely irrorated with black. Abdomen 
fulvous ochreous, with lines irrorated black at base of segments, 
and transversely on dorsum of segments. Forewings costa, 
nearly straight, hindmargin bowed, ochreous tinted with fulvous, 
and with irrorated markings of black and white scales. Fore- 
wings, costal area profusely banded with smoky grey and fulvous 
hieroglyph lines ; five transverse black lines, first encircling base, 
with black spots on either side of a deep dentation outwards; 
second circular, wavy, from + costa to + inner margin, imme- 
diately preceded by an irrorated black fascia, diffusing to white 
grey anteriorly and to inner margin; third line from opposite 4 
costa, one-sixth from costa to before 3 inner margin, twice deeply 
dentate in the middle ; the space between the second and third 
lines is irrorated with black and fuscous scales, and the black 
and white irrorations along the veins are here most conspicuous, 


80 QUEENSLAND LEPIDOPTERA 


and hence are continuous along the veins; the fourth line from 
costa is nearly straight and serrate, to half across the wing, when 
it continues in a diffused irrorated black and white fascia, to 
before anal angle of hind margin; between lines three and four 
an irrorated black and white fascia extends across inner third to 
inner margin; a broad irrorated fascia beyond fourth line 
extends from the costa and meets the fourth line in the broaden- 
ing fascia beyond middle; a fifth line from costa just before 
apex extends outwards in gentle waves to median vein, it is 
bordered by a well marked ochreous line anteriorly and a black 
and white irrorated diffusion posteriorly; there is a like patch of 
irrorated fascia opposite hind margin, between veins two and 
three ; a black hindmarginal line. Cilia ochreous fuscous, with 
lighter ochreous outer band, and crossed opposite veins with 
black. Hindwings as forewings, all lines present and more or 
less irregularly continuous with those of forewings; several short 
irrorated lines between lines one and two; a line of raised scales 
between lines two and three and extending along inner margin ; 
line three diverges to meet line four at } inner margin ; lines 
four and five are fulvous fuscous, parallel with hindmargin, are 
wavy crenulate, and subtend ochreous lunules; the fifth line is 
much paler, and not so distinct as line four; irrorated black and 
white diffused lines along veins; hindmarginal line black. Cilia 
as forewings. Under surface of all wings grey, with costal 
margin of forewings, and nearly half inner portion of hindwings. 
yellow ; a deep black band on outer third diffused with grey on 
hindmargin, and not reaching inner margin ol forewings; a large 
black discal spot in forewings, a linear pale spot on margin of 
yellow in hindwings. Appears to be allied to H. Emiliaria Gn., 
but the number of lines, configuration and distribution of colour 
do not at all agree with Guenee’e description. Brisbane. 


SELIDOSEMID ? 
ANTEIA CADAVEROSA, NOY. SP. 

933 mm. Head white; face whitish ochreous.  Palpi 
short, fuscous. Antennze whitish ochreous. Thorax white. 
Abdomen whitish ochreous. Forewings broadly dilate, costa 
rounded, hindmargin nearly straight, white covered all over 
with numerous transverse longer and shorter very faint ochreous. 
fuscous strigule. Forewings with scattered faint ochreous, 
fuscous or creamy dots on costa. Cilia whitish ochreous. 
Hindwings as forewings in colour, and marked with strigule as 
forewings in posterior fourth along hindmargin, produced to 


BY THOMAS P. LUCAS, M.R.C.S. 81 


right angle round vein 8, with a prominent dot of black in 
angle, and a small line of black on hindmargin across vein 4. 
Cilia as forewings. 1 Specimen, Lucas-Rye Bellenden Ker 
Expedition. 
NOCTUINA. 
CARADRINID. 
TRINGILBURRA, NOV, GEN. 


Head clothed with short hairs. Tongue well developed. 
Palpi moderate, clothed with short hairs, second joint longer 
than third, terminal joint porrected. Antennae filiform, ciliated. 
Thorax without distinct crest, densely hairy beneath. Abdomen 
moderate. Femora densely hairy. Spurs of middle and posterior 
tibiw well developed. Forewings vein 2 from angle of cell, 4 
and 5 from a point, 7 and 8 out of 9,10 united to9. Hind- 
wings, with 3 and 4 short-stalked, 5 obsolete, 6 and 7 closely 
approximate, 8 anastonasing with cell half way to base, a strip 
of hyaline texture in hindwings from base in place of vein 5. 
Allied to Stilbia. Tringilburra is native name for a small stream 
at foot of Bellenden Ker. 


TRINGILBURRA LUGENS, NOV, SP. 


é 40 m m. Head, thorax and abdomen rich fuscous, 
Palpi dark fuscous, terminal joint lighter fuscous. Antennae 
fuscous. Forewings elongate dilate, costa wavy, apical portion 
rounded, apex acute, hindmargin obliquely rounded, rich fuscous, 
with ochreous tesselations, and blackish fuscous markings and 
sutfusions. Forewings with a pencilled circular dark fuscous 
transverse line near base, an irregular ziczac fascial line with 
dots at angles from {costa to 4 inner margin; a second like 
line more definitely marked, with longer ziczacs from 2 costa, 
outwardly bowed and inwardly to } inner margin, between these 
two lines the ground colour is definite, with a small subcostal , 
black dot near first line, and a small black discal spot splashed 
across centre with purple iridescence, and two small difused 
blotches of black on inner border; an oblique double line, ochreous 
and dark fuscous from $ inner margin to beyond 3 costa running 
along and submerged into costa towards apex; the ground 
colour posterior to the line is suffused with darker fuscous, inter- 
mingled with blotches of ochreous fuscous; a submarginal fuscous 
line of crescentic lunules, with black dot on each bow. Cilia 
fuscous with lighter basal line. Hindwings coloured as forewings 
with base lighter fuscous and oblique line well marked from 


apex to anal angle; a hyaline band in middle third from base 
F 


§2 QUEENSLAND LEPIDOPTERA 


to one-third of wing. Under-surface of forewings with black dot 
close to median, and discal spot well defined ; two chain lines dark 
fuscous clearly defined, circular and more or less parallel to hind- 
margin; a number of like lines faint and indistinct between darker 
lines. Under-surface of hindwings with five transverse circular 
chain lines as forewings, first basal suffused into several broken 
lines and a small dot, only on costal half of wing, others very 
definite, fourth containing orchreous fuscous dots in lunular 
waves, ground colour, darker over hindmargin. Lucas-Rye 
Bellenden Ker Expedition. 


BRYOPHILA VEGETATA, NOV. SP. 

$ 22m m. Head grey, forehead with a black dot. Palpi 
short, smoky grey. Antennae smoky fuscous. Thorax grey 
with scales of black and black spots on dorsum. Abdomen 
ochreous fuscous. Forewings costa straight, apex rounded, 
hindmargin rounded, creamy grey, dotted with black, and 
strongly marked with black and grey markings. Forewings 
with costal band freely speckled with grey to beyond 4+; a wavy 
transverse chain line near to base; a second and darker fascia 
shouldered from basal line along costa and transversely to 4 
inner margin, contracted in middle; a wavy ziczac fascia from 
1 costa to + inner margin, angled outwardly before inner 
margin, .suffused outwardly chiefly along inner margin to a wavy 
line from ? costa to 4 inner margin, concave below middle and 
with discal ring nearer costa towards apex; beyond this are 
four transverse chain wavy, denticulate lines, the angles of 
lines joining and suffused before apex, the third is an accumu- 
lation of suffused dots, and the fourth or hind marginal is 
a row of strong spots. Cilia creamy grey. Hindwings golden 
ochreous with dark fuscous border, gradually shading off in- 
wardly. Cilia golden ochreous with a dividing fuscous bar. 
Brisbane. 

PLUSIAD. 
YERONGPONGA, NOV. GEN. 

Head thickly clothed with short hairs. Tongue well deve- 
loped. Antennae in ¢ filiform, very short, single cilia. Palpi 
long, subascending, second joint long, covered with dense brush 
of hair, third joint nearly as long as second, clothed with very 
short hairs, cylindrical, semi-club shaped. Femora densely 
hairy. Posterior tibiae spurs very long and developed. Fore- 
wings 2 from before 2, 3, 4 and 5 approximate, 6 from near 9, 
7 and 8 from 9. Hindwings 3, 4 and 5 approximate at base, 6 
and 7 approximate, 8 approaches cell close to base. 


BY THOMAS P. LUCAS, M.R.C.S. 83 


YERONGPONGA EXEQUIALIS, NOV. SP. 

¢ 70 mm. Head rich rich fuscous black, sparingly 
irrorated with light blue scales. Palpi rich fuscous black with 
light blue scales, terminal joint tipped with orange ochreous. 
Antennae dark fuscous. Thorax and and abdomen rich fuscous 
black, irrorated with light blue scales, central abdominal segments 
ferrous on dorsum. Forewings broadly dilate, costa nearly 
straight, apex rounded, hindmargin gently rounded, rich fuscous 
black, shot with a shiny purple iridescence and freely irrorated 
with light blue scales and dots, and marked with ferrous patches 
and ferrous ochreous spots. Forewings with four transverse 
lines of dots, basal three indistinct and broken, fourth only plain 
and definite, first line marked by two dots, + from base and at 
equal distance from costa and hindmargin ; second line circular 
marked by four dots, the one beyond 4 inner margin, the three 
at equal distance between this and } costa; the third line from 
a large subcostal spot beyond 4 costa to a circle of dots on 
auterior bordea of a large ferrous blotch opposite ? inner margin, 
and one-third breadth of wing from inner margin; the fourth 
line curves from a chain line at 2 costa posteriorly in a chain 
of dots, and turns round to posterior border of the large ferrous 
blotch ; a submarginal row of dots on veins. Cilia indigo fuscous. 
Hindwings ferrous fuscous, brown towards base, shading to 
purple and iridescent towards hindmargin, where are scattered 
blue white scales; a lime of ferrous ochreous dots parallel to 
hindmargin from anal angle of innermargin across two-thirds 
breadth of wing; faint indications of other dots nearer hindmargin, 
hindmarginal dots faint. Cilia as forewings. One specimen. 
Bellenden Ker, Lucas Rye Expedition. 

IMLEANGA, NOV. GEN. 

Head with two brush fans resting back from crown. Tongue 
well developed. Palpi long, recurved, second joint thickly clothed 
with short hairs, third joint cylindrical, about as long as second. 
Antennae biciliate, cilia in fascicles 1-2. Thorax densely hairy 
beneath. Abdomen moderate. Posterior tibial spurs well deve- 
loped. Forewings vein 2 from 4, 3 and 4 from a point, 5 


2) 


approximate, 7 and 8 out of 9,10 approximate to 9. Hindwings 


2 from 3, 3 and 4 stalked, 6 and 7 stalked, 8 amalgamated with 
cell near base, 5 irregular nearer to 6 than 4. 


IMLEANGA FLUVIATILIS, NOV. SP. 


6 40 mm. Head chocolate fuscous, with two fans 
spread back from crown, fringed with light ochreous. Palpi 


84 QUEENSLAND LEPIDOPTERA 


ochreous fuscous. Antennae fuscous. Thorax and abdomen 
ochreous fuscous. Forewings costa gently rounded, hind- 
margin rounded, ochreous fuscous with transverse wavy 
lines of darker fuscous, scales of fuscous, and markings black. 
Forewings with scattered black dots near base; a large D-shaped 
discal spot black with a projection from middle posteriorly ; a 
wavy dark line before this from 4 costa obliquely to } inner 
margin ; alike line not so well defined near base, but interrupted 
and not so well seen in all specimens , a broad blackish diffused 
square on costa before apex, subtending numbers of river-like 
winding channels parellel with hindmargin to inner margin ; a 
dark dot close to median before middle, and diffused dots along 
median fold; short strigule in hindmarginal portion of wing ; a 
hindmarginal dark fuscous line. Cilia ochreous fuscous. Hind- 
wings as forewings, without blotches, and with lines suffufed as 
darker shade towards horders. Cilia as forewings. Two specimens, 

Brisbane, at light. Mr. Illidge has also taken it near Brisbane. 


XYLORICTIDA. 
PILOSTIBES SERPTA, NOV. SP. , 

3 27 m m.- Head palpi, and thorax snow white. Antenne 
white, shading to fuscous beyond base. Abdomen ochreous. 
grey, with a band of orange red near edge of each segment. 
Forewing gently dilate, costa rounded, hind margin obliquely 
rounded, light ochreous fuscous, with central and marginal 
diffusions of darker fuscous, markings black or white and dark 
fuscous. Forewings with a subcostal black line from near base 
to beyond 4 costa, interrupted near base and dotted with 
white dots throughout; a band of ground colour suffused with 
bluish white separates this costal line from a median fuscous 
diffusion ; in this darker area are two circuitous white lined 
rounded figures answering to discal and orbital, outline gently 
undulating in and out and containing darker fuscous toward 
costa; and with white dots scattered between figures, and a 
winding white line anterior to second figure, which turning 
sharply, circles obliquely to just before anal angle of inner 
margin; central fascia attenuated to a spear-like prominence 
beyond the second figure. Cilia light fuscous with an inner 
darker band. Hindwings light fuscous, lighter toward inner 
margin. Cilia dark fuscous. One specimen bred from a 
serub tree, May Orchard, Brisbane. 

CRYPTOPHAGA PHYCIDOIDES, NOY. SP. 
é 30m n. Head white. Palpi ochreous fuscous. Anten- 


BY THOMAS P. LUCAS, M.R.C.S. 85 


nae fuscous, pectinatious in $ 1-38. Thorax white. Abdomen 
white with light smoky segmental bands. Forewings costa 
gently rounded, hind margin nearly straight, oblique to broad 
anal angle, silvery white, freely covered with grey scales, diftu- 
sion of fuscous along veins, and markings darker fuscous. Fore- 
wings, costa very finely edged with silver; patch over costal half 
of base snow white, bordered by fine black costal line, and one 
or more short black lines posteriorly; diffusion from veins spread 
to costa, darker toward apex; an indistinet diffusion of fuscous 
in disc, subtended from a dark spot in costa at ?; beyond 
this a circular zone of fuscous at equal distance from all the 
borders, marked with darker spots on the veins, three or four 
dark fuscous spots beyond ! of inner margin; hindmarginal 
fuscous line, with darker spots between veins. Cilia white 
with a fuscous band dividing. Hindwings silvery white, with 
smoky scales towards costa and hindmargin. Cilia as forewings. 
May Orchard, Brisbane. 


CRYPTOPHAGA CANNEA, NOV. SP. 


$ 2 18-24 m m. Head, palpi, and thorax rich ochreous 
red. Antennae ochreous at base, shading to fuscous. Abdomen 
ochreous, with broad ochreous fuscous bands on segments. 
Forewings gently rounded, apical half straight, hind margin 
obliquely rounded, ochreous red. Cilia lighter ochreous. Hind 
wings smoky grey, with veins distinctry outlined. Cilia light 
ochreous. One pair at Sunny Bank, Brisbane, feeding in a 
species of Banksia. 


CLERARCHA PROCELLOSA, NOV. SP. 


9 & 20-28 mn m. Head, ferruginous ochreous, in 9 whitish 
ochreous. Palpi, ferruginous, terminal joint long, ochreous 
fuscous. Antennae, fuscous, finely annulated with ochreous. 
Thorax, deep ferrous, in some specimens almost white, and with 
every variation between ferrous and white, as either colour 
spreads. Abdomen, ochreous fuscous, with fuscous fringe to 
segments. Forewings, costa rounded, hindmargin gently rounded, 
light ochreous freely dusted and marked with ferrous diffusions, 
and ferruginous scales deeper ferrous at their apex, and becoming 
almost black on hindmargin. Forewings, costa, with fine 
ferruginous line; a subcostal band of ground colour divides this 
from a band of ferruginous which runs parallel from base to 
2 of wing, and then turns inward to form a suffused cloud, 
with a like modian band, originating from itself near the base 
and enclosing an area of ground colour; at + of costa a 


86 QUEENSLAND LEPIDOPTERA 


cloudy fascia of ferruginous extends more or less diffusedly round 
the margin of wing to anal angle; a more diffused cloud of same 
colour rans along whole length of inner margin, but shows more 
of ground colour, and with median band encloses a strip of 
gronnd colour; a dark ferruginous spot in disc, and second 
smaller just beyond; a costal, apical and hindmarginal inter- 
rupted line of dark spots and lines bound a patch of ground 
colour continuous with subcostal, and enclosing a short trans- 
verse ferruginous fascia which commingles with median fascia. 
Cilia ochreous, barred irregularly with fuscous. Hindwings, 
smoky fuscous, shaded to ochreous toward base. Cilia as fore- 
wings. This is a most variable species, according to the depth 
or sparsity of ground colour. In some specimens the thorax is 
deep ferrous, in others pure white. In some the ground colour 
of the wings is white over large patches, and the ferrous colour- 
ing in such specimens is more limited. It is only by comparing 
my full series of eight specimens that the species can be described 
with anything like accuracy. Unfortunately, Meyrick described 
C. dryionopa from a single female, and my specimens, named by 
himself, do not tally at all well with his description. The species 
here described is narrower in the forewings than dryionopa and 
all the markings aro more definite and distinct in pattern. At 
first I believed there must be two or three species or varieties, 
but as in any others of this family the variation is extreme with 
intermediate forms, because of droughts, winds and other causes 
which interfere with the perfect development of the colouration. 
May Orchard, Brisbane. 
XYLORICTA CORTICANA NOY. SP. 

& @ 24-28 m m. Head, light grey. Palpi, fuscous. 
Antennae light fuscous. Thorax and abdomen, light grey. 
Forewings elongate, costa rounded, hindmargin very obliquely 
rounded, silvery white, ground colour almost lost in covering of 
grey scales; veins shaded fuscous grey ; a white discal spot at 
2, followed posteriorly by a small fuscous ring; a diffusion 
of scattered light fuscous scales through centre of wing and 
along fold, most freely toward apex. Cilia grey, with bars of 
fuscuous opposite veins. Hindwings as forewings. Cilia as 
forewings, with a dividing fuscuus line near base—one pair. 
Bellenden-Ker, Lucas-Rye Expedition. 


LICHENAULA STERNOIBES, NOV. SP. 


5 2071 TL. Head white. Palpi white, fuscous at the tip. 
Antennae very fine fuscous and white annulated. Thorax 


a 


BY THOMAS P. LUGAS, M.R.C.S. 87 


white with cuprous fuscous narrowly on either side. Abdomen 
white. Forewings gently dilate, costa rounded, hindmargin 
obliquely rounded, snow white, with cuprous fuscous markings ; 
a clubbed fascia from base to + inner margin, includes a thin strip 
of ground-colour along inner margin, and terminates in a clubed 
head on inner margin; a broad fascia from base, on costal side 
of first fascia; costa, runs along centre of wing, becoming dilate 
but not touching, and abruptly truncate posteriorly, a suffusion 
unites this with a broad oblique fascia from posterior third of 
its cortal border extending to between } and 7 costa, thence 
diffused outwardly to middle of hindmargin; there is a small 
black discal spot in this diffusion; this spot subtends a small 
blotch which suffuses towards inner margin with surrounding 
fascia; a broad apical blotch, also diffused. Cilia white, tinged 
opposite marks with coppery fuscous. Hindwings light smoky 
fuscous. Cilia smoky fuscous. One specimen at light, May 
Orchard, Brisbane. A very strongly-marked species. 
LICHENAULA APPROPINQUANS NOV. SP. 

& 2 17-23 mm. Head white, with black spot on crown. 
Palpi white, black at junction of segments. Antenne white, 
with black annulations. Thorax grey, freely sprinkled with 
black hairs, epaulettes white. Abdomen grey, with narrow light 
fuscous bands on segments. Forewings costa gently rounded, 
hind margin gently rounded, white suffused with yrey, and 
densely irrorated with blackish fuscous scales, with blackish 
fuscous markings. Forewings costa narrowly edged with white ; 
a circular dentate black band crosses wine close to base, and is 
diffused into a broader band along inner margin, ending in a 
prominent circular spot at + inner margin; a broken band 
of four diffused spots from 4 costa to $ inner margin; spot on 
costa most prominent; a diffused spot between inner marginal 
spot at + and the costa; spot at 4; beyond row of four 
spots, are two different dots, one over median vein, and the 
other close to inner margin at 3; a costal row of diffused 
spots subtends a suffusion of grey and fuscous over centre 
of wing, extending to a large pronounced blotch which 
runs toward inner margin near anal angle; a submarginal 
band does not touch margins; a hind marginal band of minute 
diffused dots. Cilia grey, irrorated with black lines. Hindwings 
smokey grey, lighter towards base. Cilia grey, banded with 
smoky fuscous. Near to L. Lichenaea, Mey, but many well 
established characters seem to divide it from that variable 
species. May Orchard, Brisbane. 


88 QUEENSLYND LEPIDOPTERA 


PLECTOPHILA SARCULATA NOY. SP. 

é 2 14-18 m m. Head, palpi and thorax white. Antennae 
fuscous, faintly annulated with white. Abdomen, ochreous 
fuscous. Forewings narrow, costa gently rounded, hindmargin 
obliquely rounded, white with fuscous markings which are 
diffused with ochreous, and irrorated with black scales; a broad 
fascia from fold opposite ? inner margin, anterior border in 
two waves to 4+ costa, and continued as a fine line toward 
base, but not as far as base, posterior border irregularly curved 
and toothed, nearly parallel to anterior border, thence curves 
along costa, and gradually narrows to a thinned out line at 
* costa; this subtends a second fascia, sometimes is com- 
mingled with it from a point opposite % costa and which 
gradually widens to inner margin, the anterior border twice 
waved and finely denticulate to beyond 4 inner margin, the 
posterior border with a sinuate outward curve to anal angle 
of inner margin; from its centre a bar connects with a broad 
diffused apical fascia. Cilia white, ochreous at base, and ochreous 
tinged with fuscous at anal angle. Hindwings, light fuscous. 
Cilia, whitish ochreous, in some specimens indistinctly banded 
with a fuscous line. May Orchard, Brisbane. 

PLECTOPHILA ASCRIPTA NOV. SP. 

2 15 m m. Head and palpi, white. Antennae, white and 
fuscous finely annulated. Thorax, white, posteriorly shaded with 
fuscous. Abdomen, light fuscous. Forewings, costa gently 
rounded, hindmargin obliquely rounded, white with ferruginous 
markings. Forewings, with a narrow fuscous line on costa 
at base, which gradually becomes obscured along costa; an 
oblique line from 2 costa to below apical angle on hindmargin, 
the hindmarginal half is darkened deep black, and the whole line 
is suffused with ferruginous on costal side and with two or three 
small dashes on costa; a black margin line surrounds this round 
apex; from a point at 2 of costa a brcad ferruginous fascia 
commences, having its base separated from half of apical 
fascia by a line of ground colour, thence runs to inner margin to 
just before anal angle; both borders are jagged and throw out 
tooth-like longer or shorter lines; a conspicuous spot opposite 
anal angle ; a diffusion of light ferruginous along inner margin 
sends a quadrate spot of ferruginous to middle of wing before 
the half ; a smaller spot on inner margin, nearer base. Cilia, 
white, with an apical ferrous bar, and becoming ochreous at anal 
angle and along inner margin. Hindwings, light fuscous. Cilia, 
ochreous fuscous. May Orchard, Brisbane. 


BY THOMAS P, LUCAS, M.R.C.S, 39 


OECOPHORID AS. 
PHILOBOTA DIFFUSA NOV. SP. 

$17mm. Head, white. Palpi, white. Antennae, white 
and fuscous annulated. Thorax fuscous, with collar and dorsal 
triangle white. Abdomen, light fuscous. Forewings, costa 
gently rounded, hindmargin nearly straight, creamy white with 
ferrous and chocolate markings. Forewings with a subcostal 
line of ferrous from base thinning out at | costa; a broad 
band of ferrous ochreous from middle third of inner margin, 
anterior border not touching subcostal line, posterior border 
becoming commingled with a large diffused blotch on costa, and 
turning sharply on itself angles a narrow bar of ground colour, 
and diffuses to a broad bar on anal angle along inner margin, 
which is again suffused in a hindmarginal line to deep blotch at 
apex of wing; these blotches, or diffusions, are bordered with 
chocolate, more or less suffused, and which also colours the 
veins within their area; a hindmarginal row of interrupted 
chocolate dots. Cilia, creamy white, tipped with fuscous. 
Hindwings, light fuscous. Cilia, ochreous fuscous. Brisbane. 


MACROBATHRA LUNACRESCENS NOV. SP. 


é 92 18-20 mn m. Head black. Palpi, black, upper sur- 
face shading into ochreous, and terminal joint ochreous red.. 
Antennae ochreous fuscous, becoming white before tip. Thorax 
black. Abdomen ochreous, shading fuscous posteriorly, and 
deepening to black on dorsum before anal segments. Forewings 
narrow, costa almost straight, apex rounded, hindmargin 
obliquely rounded, blackish fuscous, with ochreous markings 
tinted with light red, or orange. Forewings, with three eon- 
spicuous well defined transverse fascial from costa to inner 
margin, the middle one only searcely reaching inner border, 
first fascia broad, like the moon at three quarters, just beyond 
base; the middle one at half, and the third just beyond three- 
fourths; the middle one broadens circuitously towards inner 
margin, and the third, the narrowest of the three, has a straight 
anterior border and a concave posterior margin ; in one specimen 
the apex of the costa is tipped with white. Cilia, smoky fuscous. 
Hindwings, fuscous grey, with fuscous scales, Cilia, as fore- 
wings. Brisbane, rare. 

MACROBATHRA DEFINITIVA NOV. SP. 

6 18 m m. Head, palpi, antennae, thorax and abdomen, 
whitish ochreous, the thorax and abdomen tinted with light 
fuscous. Forewings, costa straight, rounded at base and apex, 


90 QUEENSLAND LEPIDOPTERA 


hindmargin rounded, rich velvety black with bright white mark- 
ings. Torewings with three transverse fasciw#, broad and con- 
spicuous ; first fascia obliquely from costa just beyond base, does 
not reach inner margin by one-fourth breadth of wing, and is 
broadened in middle by a cross bar broken off, as it were, and 
showing denticulate edges as if it had been torn off; the second 
fascia from a point at middle of costa, broadens into a six-sided 
rhomb, and only just stops short of, or is diffused to inner 
margin; the third fascia at three-fourths is broad at the costa, 
and bows anteriorly, anterior border, thence a straight line to 
; Inner margin, posterior border deeply dentate and con- 
tracted in middle, then forms a tooth projection on posterior 
border, and takes a straight course to inner margin. Cilia, 
fuscous, prominently white along hindmargin. Hindwings 
light fuscous. Cilia, light fuscous. One specimen, Brisbane. 


MACROBATHRA VEXILLARIATA. NOV. SP. 


? 16 mm. Head black, face white. Palpi white, terminal 
joint shaded with light fuscous. Antennae fuscous. Thorax 
fuscous, the dorsum anteriorly and the patagia white. Abdomen 
fuscous. Forewings costa gently rounded, hindmargin obliquely 
rounded, fuscous black with scattered grey scales, markings 
_ white or cream coloured. Forewings with a dot on 4 costa, a 
triangular blotch, with base on 2 costa, to just before apex ; the 
apex of the triangle nearly reaches to inner border, a conspicuous 
small square spot on | costa, thence diffuses to a smoky tinted 
white which extends more or less diffused along the whole inner 
border, sending up a small projecting tooth-like spot, interme- 
diate to second and third costal dots; a few scattered black 
specks on this inner border white surface ; a band or line of rich 
black borders base and inner margin of wing for a short distance, 
this is finely bordered with a line of white; the white diffusion 
plays more or less to base through centre of ground colour. 
Cilia black, light grey towards inner margin. Hindwings 
fuscous grey, diffused in middle with lighter grey. Cilia, a 
smoky grey, lighter grey toward base of inner border. One 
specimen, Brisbane. 

MACROBATHRA OBLIQUATA, NOV. SP. t 

? 13 TL ML. Head black, face white. Palpi creamy white, 
tipped with diffused fuscous. Antennae fuscous. Thorax black. 
Abdomen smoky fuscous. Forewings, costa gently rounded, 
hind margin rounded ; rich velvety black, with conspicuous 
creamy white marks; a broad fascia at one-third obliquely to 


BY THOMAS P* LUCAS, M.R.C.S. 91 


inner margin ; a minute indistinct dot at $ costa; a small round 


dot at 2 inner margin ; an oblique line at + costa, extends toward 
the spot on inner margin to half across wing. Cilia black. 
Hindwings smoky fuscous. Cilia lighter fuscous. One speci- 


men, Brisbane. 


al 
2 


EULECHRIA MITESCENS NOV, SP. 

2 6 16-18 m m. Head, ochreous white. Palpi, ochreous 
white, terminal segment black on upper surface and tipe 
Antennae, black and ochreous annulated. Thorax, black, with 
tufts of white ochreous on either side. Abdomen, light golden 
yellow. Forewings, costa, gently rounded, hindmargin obliquely 
rounded, whitish grey, with irrorated smoky diffusions and 
blackish fuscous markings ; a basal band of spots from base of 
costa runs along wing to opposite } inner margin, and connected 
with second dot to costa; a broad band of dots, lines and scales 
from } to before 4 costa and extending to from 4 to beyond ? 
inner margin, the anterior border bounding a lunule of ground 
colour, extending to 4 inner margin, the posterior border contain- 
ing spots and a broad suffusion in some specimens obscuring dots 
to inner margin; a line or diffusion of ground colour divides 
costal half of band; an oblique fascia of three or four lines or 
dots from 2 costa ‘to half way across wing to opposite # inner 
margin; a row of four dots along apex of costa and continuous 
with four along hindmargin; these subtend a diffused fascia of 
dashes or lines opposite costa and a broad blotch to anal angle of 
hindmargin; spots and lines bordered by definite ground colour. 
Cilia, whitish ochreous. Hindwings, fuscous, shading to light 
golden yellow at the base, and along the whole inner margin. 
Brisbane. 

JOONGGOORA NOV. GEN. 


Head rough scaled, sidetufts well developed as spreading 
fans, tongue moderately developed. Palpi recurved, long, 2nd 
joint covered by loose rough scales, terminal joint nearly as 
long as the 2nd, smooth cylindrical. Antennae long, filiform, 
finely serrulate, ciliate, basal joint elongate truncate. Thorax 
moderately hairy. Abdomen moderate. Posteroir tibix hairy, 
with spurs moderately developed. Forewings elongate ovate, 
narrow, veins 2 and 38 stalked, 7 and 8 staiked, 8 to costa before 
apex. Hindwings 1 a furcate at base, 8 and 4 stalked, 8 
separate from 7, not touching cell. 

Joonggoora is the native Australian name for a leguminous 
tree, in the foliage of which these moths find shelter. 


92 QUEENSLAND LEPIDOPTERA 
JOONGOORA TRICOLLATA, NOY. SP. 


¢ 16 m m. Head white, crown black in centre. Palpi 
white, terminal joint fuscous. Antennae white. Thorax white, 
with dorsum black continuous from crown, and black bands 
laterally. Abdomen light fuscous with broad bands of darker 
fuscous. Forewings costa rounded, apex acute, hind margin 
obliquely rounded, grey white with three collateral bands of rich 
chocolate fuscous. Forewings with a very narrow light fuscous 
line bordering costa; a subcostal band from base to 2 costa» 
thence dividing into dark lines along veins to costal apex 
and diffused between lines as one fascia, this fascia is attenuated 
at base and gradually broadens toward apex; a rich chocolate 
band from base not touching inner margin, runs in a bowed line 
to inner margin at +; a triangular band has its base on anal 
half of hindmargin and its apical point opposite ? costa; the 
ground colour bands on either side of the two inner bands are 
nearly equal in width to the chocolate bands, and thus form a 
series of six bands from inner margin to costal, with the narrow 
ground colour band at base of costa. Cilia whitish tinted with 
fuscous. Hindwings light smoky fuscous. Cilia light smoky 
fuscous. May Orchard, Brisbane. One specimen at light. 


JOONGOORA CUNCTILINEATA, NOY. SP. 


¢ 17 mm. Head whitish grey, crown and face fuscous. 
Palpi grey, terminal joint irrorated with fuscous, basal joint 
black. Antennae fuscous, darker at base. Thorax whitish grey, 
shading posteriorly and laterally to fuscous. Abdomen light 
fuscous. Forewings narrow, elongate, costa gently rounded, 
hind margin bowed, whitish ochreous with lines and bands along 
veins dark fuscous. Costal area of forewings ground colour; a 
subcostal dark fuscous band from base, attenuating to costa ; 
a broad fuscous band through middle of the cell, and there 
breaking up into forked lines, main continuation to near middle 
of hind margin and 4 or 5 to hind margin along veins; a dark 
fuscous band from base near inner margin to + inner margin, 
and continuous in divided lines to hind margin ; a fainter fuscous 
line between median and inner marginal bands, and another 
from base of median band divides into two lines, which run to 
costa before apex; inner and hind margins interrupted, lined 
with fuscous dots. Cilia light fuscous, finely lined with darker 
fuscous. Hindwings silvery fuscous. Cilia light fuscous. May 
Orchard, Brisbane. 


BY THOMAS P. LUCAS, M.R.C.S. 93 


TEERAHNA, NOY. GEN. 

Head smooth, scaled. Tongue well developed. Palpi 
recurved, second joint surrounded by a brush or plume fan 
hiding stalk, terminal joint longer than second, cylindrical. 
Thorax very hairy underneath. Abdomen moderate. Posterior 
tibie densely clothed with long hairs, spurs well developed. 
Forewings narrow, elongate, 3 and 4 connate, 5 absorbed, 6 and 
7 stalked, 8 to costa. Hindwings very narrow, 8 anastoming 
with cell, wing elided before middle contracted } and gradually 
narrowing to apex, 5 wanting. Cilia very long. Antennae 
filiform long finely serrulate, basal joint elongate truncate. 
Teerahna is the native name for a corrobboree or tribal social 
meeting. 

TEERAHNA REGIFICA NOV, SP. 

9 24 m m. Head iron grey, marked with metallic. 
Palpi whitish ochreous, first segment barred with black ; second 
segment with fringe or brush of scales, black and white annu- 
lated ; third segment as long as second, barred with black on 
under surface and faintly on upper side. Thorax rich chocolate 
fuscous, bordered posteriorly on either side with long fuscous 
hairs. Abdomen fuscous, with a dorsal chocolate line, and 
laterally a line of interrupted chocolate dots. Forewings narrow, 
elongate, costa gently wavy, apical fourth rounded, apex acute, 
hindmargin obliquely rounded, inner margin with very long 
cilia, rich chocolate fuscous, with veins deep black. Forewings, 
with a well defined fuscous line on edge of costa to 2 costa; a 
subcostal band of deep black from base to $ costa and with costal 
line encloses a bluish white band freely irrorated with fine black 
specks; streaks of this bluish white similar to costal band 
between veins which end in costa and hindmargin ; a rich 
chocolate band from base for half breadth of wing extends along 
inner margin to 4, it is bordered and blotched with deep black, 
and divides to median and inner marginal diffusions, which 
surround the black veins as they branch from cell; this black 
basal patch is bordered toward costa by an indistinct band of 
bluish white, irrorated with black, but a like band is very 
distinct on middle third of inner margin. Cilia deep fuscous, 
darker in middle. Hindwings attenuate, elongate, deep fuscous, 
with a bronzy tinge. Cilia as forewings. One specimen at 
light, May Orchard, Brisbane. 

WOORDA, NOV. GEN. 

Head smooth. Tongue well developed. Palpi ascending, 

second joint with short adpressed hairs, third joint as long as 


94 QUEENSLAND LEPIDOPTERA 


second, cylindrical. Antennae filiform, ciliate. ‘Thorax with 
tufts of hair laterally and posteriorly. Abdomen moderate. 
Forewings elongate lanceolate, veins 2 and 3 stalked, 5 wanting, 
8 to apex. Hindwings 3 and 4 stalked, 5 wanting, 6 
closely parallel with 4 near margin, 8 approaching 7 beyond 
middle. Woorda is the native name for a kangaroo, from Kan- 
garoo land. 
WOORDA AQUOSA, NOV. SP- 

$16 MLM. Head ochreous. Palpi and antennae fuscous. 
Thorax fuscous irrorated ~with smoky black, and shading 
to ochreous posteriorly. Abdomen ochreous fuscous, grey 
laterally underneath. Forewings narrow, costa nearly straight, 
hind margin obliquely rounded, blackish fuscous, splashed 
with grey and creamy brown dashes and markings. Forewings 
with a narrow median ochreous white or creamy band, from base 
to just before the half of wing, nearer to costa, thence diffused 
and mixed with grey, gives off spurs to costa, irrorated with 
bluish specks ; a submedian line of grey and blue specks from 
base, and suffused with bluish to 4 inner margin; a small 
white discal dot in middle subtended from median band, a 
suffused area of light fuscous brown from three-fourths, passing 
in streaks to anal angle, and again more or less sparingly to 
hind margin, and a wider belt to + costa; costal area more 
or less irrorated with lines or spots of fuscous; a discal 
dot near middle in black band. Cilia fuseous with black diffu- 
sions. Hindwings smoky grey, becoming lighter toward base 
and inner margin, darker on veins; a hind marginal dark 
fuscous fine line. Cilia light fuscous. May Orchard, Brisbane. 

WULLABURRA, NOY. GEN. 

Head loosely scaled. Tongue not well developed. Palpi 
short subascending, cylindrical. Antennae filiform. long, basal 
joint elongate, tufted. Thorax smoth scaled, hairy beneath. 
Abdomen moderate. Posterior tibie clothed with very long 
hairs, spurs moderately developed. Forewings narrow elongate, 
5 wanting, 7 from 8, 8 to costa. Hindwings narrow, 8 connateor 
anastoming with celle obliquely elongate before half wing, thence 
narrowing to apex, 5 wanting. Cilia long. Wullaburra is a 
native name for the Woomera. 

WULLABURRA NIGROMEDIA, NOV. SP. 

$20 mm. Head ochreous grey, face ochreous. Palpi 
ochreous on under side, fuscous above. Antennae fuscous, with 
rosette of fuscous grey hairs at base. Thorax grey, dorsum 


BY THOMAS P. LUCAS, M.R.C.S. 95 


anteriorly and laterally, with a deep border of chocolate black. 
Abdomen fuscous grey, legs fuscous, posterior tibiae with brush 
of long hairs. Forewings narrow elongate, costa rounded, hind 
margin very obliquely rounded, ashy white freely irrorated with 
grey, and with black markings. Forewings with a very fine 
black costal line ; a rich conspicuous black median band from 
base, parallel to the costa in anterior half of wing, then bent at 
an obtuse angle to anal angle; black band between posterior 
half of median band and costa, becoming attenuated towards 
costa, and diffused in smoky grey to costa, a fuscous diffusion 
on anal half of inner margin. Cilia grey with black suffusions, 
very long from posterior half of inner margin. Hindwings 
smoky fuscous, darker in folds. Cilia smoky fuscous, ochreous 
at base and a narrow line along inner margin. The central 
band of black, with the white areas irrorated with grey scales 
along either side of median band, with apical black and grey 
suffusion readily distinguish this species. May Orchard, 
Brisbane. 


ni teh 
@ 
t] 

- 
’ 


———— Cl 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF THE 


Annual Meeting of Members, 
HELD ON SATURDAY, 16th FEBRUARY, 1901. 


The Annual Meeting of the Society was held on Saturday, 
16th February, 1901. 

The President, Dr. John Thomson, occupied the chair, and 
there was a large attendance. 

The President, in referring to the death of Her Majesty 
Queen Victoria, stated that the following resolution had been 
forwarded. to his Excellency the Governor for transmission 
through the proper channel :— 

“That the Royal Society of Queensland joins in the deep 
mourning, which is universally felt for the death of our beloved 
Queen Victoria ; that it desires to convey its sympathy to the 
Royal Family for the irreparable loss which they and the 
Empire have sustained in the sad bereavement ; and that it 
further expresses its devotion and loyalty to His Majesty King 
Kdward VII.” 

The Minutes of previous Annual Meeting were read and 
confirmed. 

The Hon. Secretary (Mr. J, F. Bailey) read the following 
report of the Council for the 1900 Session :— 


To the Members of the Royal Society of Queensland. 


According to usual custom your Council has much pleasure 
in submitting the annual report for the year 1900 :— 


In May last, Vol. XV of the Proceedings, (186 pages and 3 
plates) containing the papers read during the 1899 session, was 
published and distributed, as was also an index for Vols. XI to 
XIV, inclusive. 

The Ordinary Meetings of Members, nine in number, have 
been well attended. A list of the papers read, is furnished in 
Appendix A. 


Fifteen Council Meetings have been held. The attendance 


of officers will be found in Appendix B. 
G 


il REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. 


Thirteen new members were elected during the year. A 
list of these is given in Appendix C. 


It is with deep regret the Council has to record the loss 
by death of two members, viz., Dr. J. N. Waugh and Mr. A. J. 
Norton. The former did some excellent work while connected 
with the Philosophical Society, which was incorporated with this 
Society in 1884. Mr. Norton was for many years one cf our 
most zealous members, and acted as Hon. Librarian during the 
years 1895, 1896, and part of 1897, when he resigned office on 
account of his removal to Childers. 

The Council desires to express its thanks to the Govern- 
ment, through the Hon. the Chief Secretary, for again placing 
at the disposal of the Society a similar endowment to that 
granted the previous year. 


During the current year the Library has been enriched by 
numerous and valuable donations. The Societies and Institutions 
on our exchange list now number 170. _ It will be noticed that the 
wish expressed in former reports, that a sum should be placed aside 
each year for binding books, has this year been realised. About 
350 volumes have been bound, and it is intended that this good 
work shall be continued. It has also been arranged to have 
glass doors fixed to the book-shelves as a protection against dust. 


The Council, having found that the want of a good lantern 
was a drawback to the success of the meetings, purchased an 
instrument from Messrs. Ross & Co., Litd., one of the leading 
makers of Great Britain, which has given highly satisfactory 
results. To further increase the usefulness of the lantern a 
projective microscopic attachment has been ordered. Thanks 
are due to Mr. A. G. Jackson for having so ably performed the 
duties of Honorary Lanternist. 


By reference to Appendix D it will be seen that the finances 
of the Society are in a healthy state. The Council regrets that 
certain subscriptions for 1900 have not been paid, and hopes that 
the current year will prove an exception in this particular, as 
neglect of these debts of honour means a loss of Government 
subsidy, which is paid at the rate of £1 for every £1 received in 
subscriptions. 

The scheme for the publication of an International 
Catalogue of Scientific Literature, which originated with the 
Royal Society of London, has recently made great progress, 
and it has been arranged that the issue of the Catalogue will 
begin this year. The Government has on several occasions 


REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. iii 


sought the advice of the Council on matters connected with the 
Catalogue, so far as Queensland is concerned, and the Council 
has agreed to subscribe for a set, comprising 17 volumes, at a 
cost of £17. Numerous applications have been received for the 
Queensland Volume of the Catalogue compiled by Mr. Shirley, 
on behalf of the Society, and at the request of the Government ; 
but the demands could not be met as all the copies have been 
distributed. 

It will be remembered that Mr. O’Connor, in 1896, on 
behalf of the Society, and with the aid of pecuniary assistance 
from the Government, transferred a number of specimens of the 
interesting fish Ceratodus from the Burnett and Mary rivers to 
the Coomera, Condamine, and Brisbane waters, and to the 
Enoggera Reservoir, in the hope that they would adapt them- 
selves to those new localities. The following extract from a 
recent report by Mr. O’Connor seems to show that the experiment 
has been successful. 

‘Since I wrote you respecting the capture of a 
Ceratodus in the Condamine I heard of another being taken 
there, this specimen was only one foot and a half long, 
consequently one of a new generation, none of the fish taken to 
the Condamine measured less than two feet six inches in length. 
I have also been informed by a correspondent at the 
Coomera river that: ‘The Ceratodi have increased in great 
numbers, I have heard of several being caught and many have 
been seen about fifteen inches long.’ ”’ 

In accordance with the rules, all the oteers retire, but 
with the exception of the President, and Vice-President (neither 
of whom, according to Rule 16, can hold the same office for two 
years in succession), are eligible for re-election, 

JOHN THOMSON, M.B., 
J. F. BAILEY, President. 
Hon. Secretary. 
. Brispane, 4TH January, 1901.. 


COUNCIL. 


THE 


OF 


REPORT 


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a aGLoO hy a yqoog vubayp pur saa yuyg | 

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Os Oar a *s Ss quay e 61:9 Pe ss qlodat Jsvy] WLOIy voUBL Bg 
“pins. “SENGIMGSUOUST [ Cy Yael: Se “Sid TCO 


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"ANWISNAANO FO ALAIOOS IWAOU AHL 
‘d XIGNHddV 


REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. Vv 
APPENDIX B. 
ATTENDANCE OF OFFICERS AT THE FirTEEN Counctn MEETINGS 
Durinc tHE 1900 Sessron. 

Office. | Name. mene 
President .. John Thomson, M.B. tate 
Vice-President .. W.J. Byram.. 7 
Hon. Treasurer Hon. A. Nor ton, M.L. CG. 7 
Hon. Secretary J. F. Bailey : 15 
Hon. Librarian .._ R. Illidge 6 14 

| F. M. Bailey, F.L.S. 9 

A. G. Jackson 8 

Members of Council- C. J. Pound, F.R.M. Ss. | 11 
( J. Shirley, B.Sc. be 8 

J. W. Sutton . al 10 


APPENDIX. C€, 


Memeers Evectep 


DURING THE YEAR 1900. 


Date Name, 
Feb.. 24 | Colledge, W. R. 
March 17 | Allan, James 
. Potts, John . 
April 7 | Gooley, William 
> Harris, M. A. 
May. 26 |*Cameron, John 
June 16 Martin, S. G. 
Inglis, Thomas 
July. 14 | Hardcastle, W. B... 
Sept. 22 |Hopkins,G.H.(#.R.c.s.) 
” Cory, A. H. (M.R.C.V.S) 
= Maclaren, J. M. .. 
a5 Taylor, William .. 


Address. 


Taringa : 
Queen St., Bris. 
Queen St., Bris. 
Brisbane 
Normanby Hill 
Eagle Junction 


| Queen St., Bris. 


Normanby Hill 


| Sherwood 


N’th Quay, Bris. 
Town Hall, _,, 


Geo. Survey Dep. 


Ithaca Creek .. 


Proposed by. 


W. J. Byram. 

J. Shirley, B.Sc. 

J. W. Sutton. 

R. H. Relton. 

J. Shirley, B.Sc. 
Hon.A.Norton M.L.C. 
Hon. Secretary. 

R. H. Relton. 

J. Shirley, B.Sc. 

C.J. Pound, F.R.M.S§S, 
Hon. Secretary. 

J. Shirley, B.Sc. 

A. Kaye. 


* Life Member. 


iv REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. 


APPENDIX A. 


List or Papers READ puRING 1900 Sxssion. 


February 24 | Preventive measures against | 
the spread of Tuberculosis | E. Hirschfeld, M.D. 


March . 17 | Notes on Some Modern Ex- | 


plosives se ~- | T. McCall. 
April . 7] The Barbung of the Wiradthuri | 
Tribe .. ate .. | R. H. Mathews. 
a ps Exploration in Western Australia | F. Hann. 


May . 26 | Australian Vegetation and its | 
Geological Development J. Shirley, B.Sc. 


June . 16] The Inspection of Home and 
Export Meat Supply W. C. Quinnell, 
M.B.C.Y.S.L. 
July . 14] The Morphological Character of 
the Plague Bacillus C. J. Pound, F.R.M.S. 
Septemb’r 22 | The Anopheles or Malaria-carry- 
ing Mosquito .. .. | W.R. Colledge. 
October 20] A few Suggestions on Photo- | John Thomson, M.B. 
Micrometry ae (President). 
December 8 | Australasian Wood-boring | R. Illidge and Ambrose 
Hepialidx -- Quail, F.E.S. 


PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. vil 


The adoption of the Report was moved by the Hon. 
A..Norton, seconded by Mr. F. Whitteron, and carried. 


The President then delivered the following address :— 


PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 


Lire, Curerty Bacteria. 


Laure !—Wuar 1s 11? anp WHENCE came IT? ‘These questions 
have puzzled the philosophers of the mental and natural schools, 
and the answers are not yet. 

We see life; we may think we know it; but we fail to 
define it. 

Life has been described as a condition of matter—‘ If 
one substance exhibits the property of combustibility, it burns ;. 
if another, on being stretched, returns to its original size, it is 
elastic; and if a third presents differentiated growth, involving 
assimilation and excretion, or exhibits contractility and 
sensibility, it lives.” 

Spencer’s definition is well known, but is cumbersome, 
unsatisfactory, and not likely to be popular :—‘‘ the definite 
combination of heterogeneous changes, both simultaneous and 
successive, in correspondence with external co-existences and 
sequences.” 

Béelard’s ‘‘ Organisation in Action” is short and crisp and 
as explicit as present knowledge warrants. 

What of the seed that has for centuries, or tens of them, 
lain hid in the mummy sarcophagus and has then fallen ‘ into 
good ground and brought forth fruit?’’ Was it alive all the 
years or had it only the power of living ? 

And the replies to the second question are as vague. If our 
earth was formed, as astronomers declare, from the molecular 
Protyle, whirled off as a ringed and molten mass from the’ 
System’s centre; and if, from the testimony of the rocks, 
geologists agree with the theory of a molten birth ; and that, 
with due regard to the effects of a glacial period, the cooling 
now is only of the crust and the internal fires are still raging, 
the Earth inust have passed through eons of time and cooled 
down to something like its present temperature, before it was 
fitted to support life, or at least such life as we now know, for 
this yields readily to heat; the boiling point upheld for a few 
minutes is destructive of most organisms, while the most 
resistant endospores cannot withstand a temperature of 800° F. 


vill BY J. THOMSON, M.B. 


The Earth then was sterile, and sterile it must have remained, 
until by its physical conditions it could sustain life, and then 
life came, but how ? , 

Of the theories presented to us, four may be referred to. 


Ist. ‘‘ Life originated under conditions beyond the sphere 
of scientific inquiry—A spiritual influx.” 

2nd. ‘‘Organisms or germs of organisms were brought to 
the earth by meteorites from elsewhere.” And, as “‘ if bas been 
estimated that as much as a hundred tons weight of them 
(meteorites) are encountered by the earth every day and fall 
upon its surface,’’ Lord Kelvin, who supported this theory, 
certainly had something to go upon. 

3rd. “ Life, like matter and energy, had no origin but is 
eternal, else it and they must have arisen out of nothing.’ If 
this be true, the life referred to must have been utterly different 
from any we now know or can possibly imagine. 

4th. ‘“‘ Living matter evolved itself from matter which was 
not living as the outcome of unexplained processes of up- 
building or synthesis.’’ This somewhat harmonises with the 
theory of evolution. 

“But of a surety, knowledge lingers. An unknown but very 
matter of fact writer declares, ‘‘ Definitions of Life are useless 
from our utter ignorance of the nature and the conditions we 
attempt to define.”’ 

Assuming that the Earth was inoculated with life, was that 
primeval, primordial, pat of protoplasm responsible for all life as 
we know it? Through the countless ages, and by processes of 
selection, survival, and evolution, have the animal and vegetable 
kingdoms and the dry land, the sea and the air, found their 
denizens? Ordo fresh inoculations occur? Do new forms of 
life spring into existence ? Is there such a thing as spontaneous 
generation ? 


‘‘For if the sun breed maggots in a dead dog,’ so said 


Hamlet, and this expressed the theory of his day. Bacon 
believed that mites in cheese and maggots in flesh were the 
results of putrefaction ; in fact, that the lower forms of animal 
life were due to putridity—a mors janua vite—a life for a death 
—a pheenix arising from the ashes of its past. 

In 1660 Francesco Redi published his ‘‘ Experiences,” and 
demonstrated that maggots were the larve of the common blow- 
fly. He practically taught what is now called Biogenesis, and 


came under the bann of the Church for so doing, for it was held © 


PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 1X 


that the story of Samson, the young lion and the swarm of bees 
and honey found in the lion’s carcase, were divine proofs of 
spontaneous generation. You remember Samson’s riddle, ‘“ Out 
of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth 
Sweetness.”’ 

For long, aye, until quite recently, scientists were divided. 
There were the Biogenetics, or those who asserted that all life 
was due to pre-existing life, 

‘‘QOmne vivum e vivo”; 
and the Abiogenetics, who believed that under certain conditions 
life could arise dv noro—in other words, spontaneously. 

This controversy waged from the days of Leeuwenboeck, 
and although the Is held the power, for they had the heavier 
battalions, yet the As managed to successfully carry on a guerilla 
war until about 1875, when various workers, chief amongst 
whom was Tyndall, settled the matter definitely to the complete 
overthrow of the theory of spontaneous generation. A full 
account of his experiments— having reference to putrefaction and 
infection—with some twenty-six different kinds of animal and 
vegetable infusions, and the appliances © he made use of, will be 
found in his ‘‘ Floating Matter in the Air,” a book I can 
confidently recommend to your notice, for it is clearly, cleverly, 
and popularly written. 

We may fairly assume then, that life, as it is at present 
known—from the hugest of beasts to the tiniest of cocci—runs 
far back into prehistoric ages. 

But these cocci and other micro-organisms were first viewed 
by man some 225 years ago, when, in 1675, Anton Leeuwenhoeck, 
a Dutch philosopher, not only made his own microscope—a 
simple one—grinding and polishing its lenses, but used it to 
such good purpose that he discovered and described certain 
minute living entities, which are now known as bacteria, 
bacilli, spirilla, and micro-cocci. He classified these as animal- 
cule, but he formulated no theory as to the part they played 
in the vast orchestra of Nature. Other observers followed, but 
it was not until 1837, the year of our late beloved Queen’s acces- 
sion, that Schwann, the author of the cell theory, asserted that 
fermentative processes were dependent upon the proliferation of 
certain yeast plants, and that putrefaction was due “ to some- 
thing suspended in the air which heat was able to destroy.”” In 
1863, Davaine demonstrated that anthrax, malignant pustulé or 
woolsorter’s disease, was due to the presence in the blood of the 
sufferer of a specific infective organism, the now well-known 


x BY J. THOMSON, M.B, 


bacillus anthracis, ® and that may be taken as the year when 
Bacteriology, as a special study, bad its birth. Its infancy was 
both puny and capricious, and it was not until 1880, that the 
foundations of an absolutely sound constitution were laid ; 
‘the work done earlier than that was more likely to be 
erroneous than correct.’’ But the first and the greatest of 
the bacteriologists was the Frenchman, Louis Pasteur; to him 
undoubtedly belongs the honour of having been the most 
successful experimenter, the most careful worker, and the most 
original thinker in the new field of science. He led, others 
followed ! 

Many attempts have been made to classify Bacteria—a term 
certainly erroneous, but now universally employed when referring 
to the Schizomycetes, or Fission Fungi—a group of minute 
unicellular vegetable organisms which reproduce themselves by 
self-division or cleavage. 

The simplest classification, “ based on morphological char- 
acteristics, that is, shape and form, is :— 

I. Cocct.— Are small oval or spheroidal cells, always 
retaining their shape, no matter in what natural or artificial 
media they may grow. 

1. Diploeocci: 6 When the cells are in pairs, as in the 

pneumococci and others. 

2. Streptococci : ‘*) When the cells are in chains, short or 

long, usually encapsuled. 

3. Tetracocci: “ When the cells are grouped in fours, often 

encapsuled. 

4. Sarcine : “ When the cells appear in packets of eight 

or more. 
Staphylococci: When the cells are in irregular clumps 
of no particular shape or symmetry. 
. Zooglea: When clusters of staphyloccoi are held together 
by a tough mucous membrane 


Or 


lor) 


II. Baci11.—Are rod-like structures, in which one diameter 
is greater than tue other. They may be long and thin, or plump 
and almost round; they may have square, “!!%) pointed, 
rounded, ) or clubbed “ ends, and they may arrange themselves 
in pairs, clumps, chains, or filaments. When fusiform or spindle 
haped they are sometimes called Clostridia. 


The nunibers in the text refer to the lantern slides exhibited during the 
address. A list of these slides is given in an appendix. 


PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS xt 


~ TEL. Sprrmuia.—®1617) Include all the curved and spiral 
forms——Vibrios, «&e. 

Bacteria have also been grouped, “* it can scarcely be called 
classified, according to the changes they effect in the media in 
which they grow. 

1. Zymogenetic, or ferment producing. 


2. Pathogenetic, or disease a. 
3. Saprogenetic, or putrefaction if 
4. Chromogenetic, or colour K 


5. Photogenetic, or phosphorescence ,, 


ZymMocENetic.—To understand the conduct of some of the 
ferment producing growths it is well to refer to the behaviour of 
the yeast plant (of which, by the way, there are many), in the 
well-known domestic processes of baking and brewing. These 
processes have perhaps been known during all human time— 
leaven is referred to in the Oldest of Books, and fermented 
drinks of one kind or another have been quaffed by the most 
savage races—and yet the scientific causes, the chemical and 
vital influences at work have only recently been established. 

The Yeasts (9-20-21-22) are half-brothers of the Moulds, the 
thread-like hairy patches which grow on paste, bread, potatoes, 
&e., and first cousins of the Bacteria. They, under certain 
restricted conditions, sporulate, but generally they multiply by 
budding, hence the name ‘‘ sprouting fungi,’ the daughter cell 
springing from the protoplasm of the parent and then separating 
and enjoying an independent life. The cells are oval, about ;,),5 
of an inch in length, and they proliferate so readily, it has been 
calculated that one solitary cell in 48 hours will be responsible 
for something over 35,000—(35,378 Engel). And an important 
change—fermentation—is taking place in the medium in which 
this enormous growth occurs. Let it be a saccharine one; the 
complex substance—sugar—is broken up ; alcohol is produced ; 
carbonic acid gas given off and heat generated. One molecule 
of grape sugar may be resolved, theoretically, during the act of 
fermentation into two molecules of alcohol and two molecules of 
carbon dioxide. @) 


Grape Sugar (180) Alcohol (2 x 46) Carbon Dioxide (2 x 44) 


Cpe .ii—= - 2.(0;H,0) X 2 (CO,) 
or roughly, two parts by weight of sugar yield one of alcohol. 
In Baking, something analogous to this—panary fernient- 
ation—takes place. Given flour or meal ; leaven or yeast ; water 
containing salt; with a sufficient temperature and a sufficient time 


xi BY J. THOMSON, M.B. 


and a form of fermentation is set up. The yeast, proliferating, 
attacks the gluten, starch and sugar of the flour; the later 
passes into alcohol and the dough swells up-—‘‘ rises ’’—and is 
distended with innumerable air spaces from the evolution of 
carbonic acid, The subsequent baking still further inflates the 
air cavities, but the carbonic acid is destroyed, the alcohol is 
driven off, and the ferment killed. 

In Brewing, a similar thing—vinous fermentation—oceurs. 
The sugar to be subsequently acted upon is derived from barley ; 
first, during the stage of malting, or germinating, when the 
starchy particles undergo alteration; and second, during the 
process of mashing, when a nitrogenous and unorganised 
ferment—diastase—changes the modified starch of the malt into 
malt-sugar (maltose) and dextrine. After boiling with hops and 
and other processes, yeast is added and fermentation begins. 
The surface of the liquid is covered with a brownish cream 
which rapidly increases in volume by the speedy proliferation of 
the yeast cells; the cream becomes enormously frothy and 
‘‘rocky”’ by the abundantly escaping carbonic gas which 
accumulates densely on the surface of the fermenting liquid ; 
the temperature of the liquid rises ; and its specific gravity falls 
owing to the presence of alcohol. 

Think, just for a moment, what a terrific influence in the 
wide world this tiny yeast cell wields What an enormons, 
what a vast-spread industry depends upon its little growth. 
What a mint of money; millions, countless millions, sums far 
beyond our reckoning or our ken are backing its behaviour. No 
wonder it has to be kept healthy; no wonder its cultivations 
have to be pure; no wonder a Pasteur and a Hansen devoted 
their talents and spent many of the best years of their lives to 
the study of the yeast plant and the role it plays in fermentation. 

Having referred so frequently and so recently to alcohol, it 
may astonish you to learn that it is only at the extremes of 
Creation that any love or liking for this fluid—beverage—poison 
—call it what you will—is discoverable. Man, at the one 
extreme may be described as an alcohol drinking animal; 
certainly it is for him, and him only, that that industry and 
that wealth just referred to, has been established and has been 
invested. No other living thing that is in the heaven above 
or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the 
earth is alcoholicly inclined—save one. At the other extreme, 
at the lowest rung of life’s ladder, we find the Wycoderma Aceti, 
an organism which simply revels in wine, lives and multiplies 


PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS Xlil 


in it, and consumesit. This inebriate likes its liquor weak and 
won’t have anything to do with drinks containing more than 
about 10 per cent. of alcohol, but it effectually alters these and 
under its depraved influence reduces them to the sourest vinegar. 
Acetous fermentation—an oxidation of alcohol—has been 
brought about by the growth of bacteria. (4) 
Alcohol. Oxygen. Acetic Acid. Water. 
ee — 1. —$-_-_—~, 
Pe OX. O2>— VC EO. Xs 0 
Besides these fermentations mentioned, are the Lactic 
(Bacillus acidi lactici) and the Butyric (bacillus butyricus). 


ParHocenetic Bacrerta or THE MicR0-ORGANISMS OF THE 
Inrections oF AnimAL AND Pant Lire.—It has been thoroughly 
established that some of the diseases to which flesh is heir are 
induced by specific germs of bacterial origin. 

A Jist is given of 17 diseases of more or less established 
bacteriology, 19 are catalogued as uncertain, 5 appear as com- 
municable from animals to man, and 2 are due to protozoa; a 
total of 43 ailments. (25 to 43) 


Now that the action of the Zymogens is uuderstood—the 
breaking down complex organic substances into simpler products. 
—it may naturally lead one to suspect that the morbiferous 
micro-organisms, during their proliferation in the human fluids 
and tissues, effect changes not unallied to fermentation ; and 
long before the days of bacteriology something of the kind was 
believed, and many diseases were grouped as “ymotic, a term 
now practically extinct. 


In the normal blood and tissues, so far as is known, no 
micro-organisms exist; but they are found on the skin and 
on the mucous surfaces. In the mouth they are plentiful, and 
quite ten years ago Miller described and cultivated some fifty 
different kinds found there, and from the number on the mucous 
surface of the prima via, it has been argued that the process of 
digestion is not wholly independent of bacterial aid.. 


This is neither the time nor the place to dwell on the 
influences of bacterial activity, on infection or contagion, on 
susceptibility or predisposition, and on imniunity—factors which 
have to be taken into account when war between parasite and 
host is declared or waged. Suffice that an invasion by the former 
may be successfully resisted by the Phacocytes— (44-45-46) the police- 
men of the blood current—who, alarmed by the intrusion of an 
enemy, pounce upon him and destroy him by summarily eating 


Xiv BY J. THOMSON, M.B. 


him. Again, the enemy may overcome the outposts and skir- 
mishers, and an invasion, limited in its area and effects, may be 
accomplished, the results being inflammation or suppuration, or 
even local death of the part, but without septicemia or blood 
poisoning; or the enemy may overspread and devastate, 
occasionally, but not necessarily, working special local mischief. 
The invading pathogenetic bacteria, as in the case of anthrax, 
cholera, diphtheria, or other of the highly malignant and fatal 
diseases, may rapidly proliferate, and in so doing alter the human 
fluids and tissues in which they grow— 

1st —By the assimilation of nutritive material ; 

2nd—By the products of secretion, elaborated and given out 

, by the bacterial cell ; 

3rd —By subsequent secondary changes, induced by these 

products. 

Bacteriological chemistry is still in its very earliest infancy, 
and the ‘“‘ bacterial products’ referred to are not worked out in 
chemical equation, as in the cases of vinous and acetous fermen- 
tation.s Here, complex nitrogenous or proteid compounds are 
being attacked, and vital forces are arranged on both sides, and 
the result is a poison, ‘and, knowing as little as we do, it is 
safest to apply to these bacterial poisons the general term— 
tovin.”” And yet tovins vary; in some diseases they seem to be 
specific poisons, in others only the poison-producers. But how- 
ever it be, bacteriology has taught the physician the causa 
causans of many ailments, and he, in his turn, is devising anti- 
toxins for their effectual cure. 

SaproGENETIo oR PuTrREFactTIoN Propucinc.—I am sure you 
will pardon me if I quote the oft-quoted but graphic description, 
by Ductaux, of putrefaction processes and effects :— 

‘‘ Whenever and wherever there is decomposition of organic 
matter, whether it be the case of a herb or an oak, of a worm or 
a whale, the work is exclusively done by infinitely small organ- 
isms. They are the important, almost the only agents of 
universal hygiene; they clear away more quickly than the dogs 
of Constantinople or the wild beasts of the desert, the remains 
of all that has had life ; they protect the living against the dead ; 
they do more: if there are still living beings, if, since the 
hundreds of centuries the world has been inhabited, life con- 
tinues, it is to them we owe it. Without them the surface of 
the earth would be covered with dead organic matter, the 
remains of plants and animal bodies, which retaining the ele- 
ments necessary for the building up of new plant life and animal 


PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS XV 


bodies, would soon cut off the food supply of new plants and 
animals; life would be impossible, because the work of death 
would be incomplete; or, as Pasteur puts it, because thé return 
to the atmosphere and to the mineral kingdom, of all that which 
has ceased to live, would be totally suspended.” 

‘While the poisonous products of bacterial action on living 
material are, as already stated, termed towins ; similar products, 
due to micro-organic decomposition of dead material, are known 
as ptomaines or cadaveric alkaloids, and many of these have 
been separated and experimented with, and putrid infection, or 
better, ptomaines poisoning, is by no means uncommon, and is, 
in general, due to the consumption of tainted meats, tinned 
foods, &c. 

CHROMOGENETIC, OR COLOUR-FORMING BACTERIA, are Organisms 
which during their growth, elaborate or secrete colour stuff. Expose 
a boiled potato, or some bread, or other farinaceous article, to the 
air of any ordinary room for a few days, and colonies—as they 
are termed—of various moulds, yeasts, and bacteria will develop, 
and the colours of these may be very various. A bright blood 
red patch may be seen, this is a growth of the Bacillus jyrodi- 
giosus, & micro-organism having remarkable characteristics: some- 
times its appearance is prevalent; in Paris, in 1845, it attacked 
the bread in the military bakehouses. It has not infrequently 
been found on the sacred wafer, and by its sanguine colour has 
given rise to the appearance known as the * bleeding host,” a 
phenomenon taken advantage of by the miracle monger to appall 
the ignorant. and superstitious crowd. As Fraenkel says, ‘All 
the cases of miraculous blood-covered bread, weeping hosts, &c., 
which are reported, may be safely referred to this bacterium, as 
may also those in, which the reddening of bread was supposed to 
result from diseased corn, ee the reddening of milk from a 
special disease of the cows.’ 

Colours, other than red, may be produced :—Yellow, by various 
kinds of Sarcine.) Yellowish green to blue by the /acillus 
Pyocyaneus, which discolours the pus and bandages of a wound, 
making them blue; and the JSacillus of blue milk, -the 
B. Cyanogenus. Purple to- violet by the Bacillus Violaceus, 
or Janthinus.48) Red by the Bacillus Indicus.® © This 
is historic.—It derives its name from its having been 
found by Koch in the intestines of an Indian monkey when 
he was in India, seeking the cause of cholera. It has the 
faculty of resisting for a long time various deleterious in- 
fluences. For instance, a small quantity of potato culture 


Xvi BY J. THOMSON, M.B. 


grown in India, was laid between blotting paper, and *in 
this state sent to Germany in a letter. This letter on its way 
was subjected to all the measures employed by the sanitary 
police of the different countries through which it passed for 
disinfecting the mails coming from cholera districts. It was 
perforated and fumigated with chlorine and sulphur according 
to the postal regulations, but the first experiments made at the 
Imperial Health Oftice in Berlin, at once showed that the vitality 
of the bacteria had suffered no harm whatever from all these 
operations.—FRAENKEL. 

A somewhat remarkable organism is the Bacillus Figurans, 
so named from the extraordinary twists and convolutions, which, 
on plate cultivations, give rise to fantastic figures and patterns; 
these sbapes © are all built up of definitely arranged parallel 
rods with all the regularity of bonded brickwork, in which, how- 
ever, all the bricks are stretchers. 

Pigment formation seems to depend— 

1. On the nature and consistence of the medium—preferably 

a solid one. 

2. On the presence of air and oxygen—preferably both. 

3. On the temperature—warmth dispels colour. 

4, On the activity of light. Sunlight may prevent or 

bleach. 

PHOTOGENETIC, OR THE ORGANISMS WHICH GIVE RISE TO PHos- 
PHORESCENCE.—On a dark night it is possible to read one’s watch 
by the light of the waters as the boat and her impelling oars stir 
them up to glint and glow with phosphorescent pallor. This 
luminosity is produced by some half-dozen light producing 
bacteria.  Uhe Photo-Bacterium Phosphorescens — Fluggeri — 
Fischeri — Baltiewn — Indicum — and Lwminosum. But. not 
alone water, meat and fish, while decomposing, may also phos- 
phoresce, and the effect is said to be due to active oxidation. 

Beyicx, Userun or Frrenpty Bacrerta.—lt is rather 
unfortunate that the public should associate bacteria with 
disease—in fact, view them as synonymous terms. There 
may be some reason, for undoubtedly the practitioner with 
his everlasting quest for the germ-proof of his patient’s indis- 
position is largely responsible for this limited and partially 
erroneous belief. 

That we have foes—foes treacherous and implacable— 
amongst these tiny organisms is certain; but we have also friends, 
trusty and reliable, humble, perhaps, and unobstrusive, but per- 
severingly working together for our general welfare. To the 


PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS xvii 


agriculturalist the friendly bacteria are as essential as the soil or 
the seasons. It has been asserted, I do not know how truly, 
that given the choicest soil for some special crop, not a blade 
would grow if all the factors— the earth, seed, water and air — 
had been absolutely deprived of bacterial life. 


Certainly it has been proved that the complex process of nitri- 
fication, the process by which nitrogen from organic substances :— 
decomposing animal and vegetable bodies, manures, &c.—is trans- 
formed, or mineralised, into ammonia, nitrous and nitric acids, 
depends upon micro-organic action, and that the conversion is a 
double one. One set of bacteria changes the ammonia into nitrous 
acid, and a totally different set transforms the latter into nitric, 
which unites with soil ingredients to form nitrates. The process 
is an oxidising one, but it is one of the fundamentals of agricul- 
tural chemistry. 


And the dairyman has to put up occasionally with the 
enmity of unfriendly bacteria: the souring of his milk ; its some- 
time bitter, tainted, or soapy taste; its blue, red, or yellow 
colour ; its slimy consistence, are due to the growth in the milk 
of unusual bacteria. On the other hand, the ripening of his 
cream, and much more importantly, the ripening of his cheese, 
giving it the special flavour which finds acceptance in the market, 
are but the effects of his allies, the friendly bacteria. The flavour 
of cheese is a bacterial growth of a fermentative character giving 
rise to decomposition, which, in the case of Limburger and some 
others, is not very difficult to discover. 


It is true, then, that our lunch of bread, butter, cheese, and 
beer is composed of articles whose very existence is undoubtedly 
dependent upon or absolutely due to micro-organic life, and it is 
at least probable that their final digestion in our economy may 
be assisted by similar agencies. 


And to finish well our luncheon, we light the soothing 
weed, and as drowsily we watch the lazy curling smoke, do we for 
& moment dream that the fragrance and the aroma are due to 
bacterial causes? Yet so it is; ere the tobacco leaves are fit for 
use, they have to go through many processes, some of which, at 
least, are fermentative. ‘‘ The special quality of tobacco is in 
part dependent upon the peculiar type of fermentation that gives 
rise to the flavour and the aroma of the tobacco, and as the 
number of species of bacteria which are found upon the tobacco 


leaves in the various stages of its preparation is quite large, it is 
H 


Xvili BY J. THOMSON, M.B. 


inevitable that the different kinds of bacteria will produce 
different results as to flavour and grade in the fermenting 
processes.”’ 

The effects of other friendly bacteria are seen in the 
‘“‘retting ’’ of the linen and the jute trades ; the preparation of 
indigo and the curing of opium. 

But another, a more recent, and, if successful, perhaps the 
most important of all the friendly aids which man receives from 
lowly life, is the bacterial treatment of sewage.» The disposal 
of the sewage of cities has been one of the conundrums the 
sanitary engineer or expert has had to wrestle with since cities 
first began. It is unnecessary to enumerate the various schemes, 
more or less suecessful which have been adopted for all the 
various conditions of differently situated towns. In most or all 
of these there has been some one weak or defective spot (even if 
only an economic one) apparent to and claiming the attention of 
the authorities, and they, calling in the aid of the scientist 
have been informed of ‘“ the utilisation of bacteria in the treat- 
ment of sewage,’’ as proposed by Scott Moncrieff in 1892. The 
scheme, in fair detail, but somewhat too lengthy to quote in full 
to-night, appears in an able paper on ‘‘ Sewerage and Health,” 
read by Dr. Mailler Kendall, Medical Adviser to the Sydney 
Board of Waterworks, at the Brisbane Session of the Inter- 
colonial Medical Coneress of Australasia, in September, 1899. 

And this bacterial treatment of sewage or as it is referred to as 
‘simply allowing Nature to fulfil her function by means of 
bacteria,”’ is also described in ‘ Bacteria,’’ one of the volumes of 
The Progressive Science Series, 1899, and the works at Exeter are 
explained and plans shown. 

If the promise of the present be supported by the experience 
of the future, Science, for the problem has been carefully worked 
out on Chemico-Vital lines, will have scored one of its very 
biggest successes. 

I have said nothing of the numbers in all the classes of 
bacterial varieties—it is impossible—they are ‘‘ As the sand 
which is by the sea shore, innumerable;’’ and it is almost 
equally impossible to refer to th ic rapility of multiplication, 
but as I quoted Engel on yeast, | may be excused for mentioning 
Cohn on bacteria. 

He calculated that a single germ could produce by simple 
fission two of its kind in one hour, in the second hour these 
would be multiplied to four ; and in three days they would, if 
their surroundings were ideally favourable, form a mass which 


PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS xix 


can scarcely be reckoned in numbers; or if reckoned, could 
scarcely be imagined—4,772 billions,—and these would weigh no 
less than 7,500 tons. Fortunately for us, long before the off- 
spring reach even into the millions, their rate of multiplication 
is checked either by lack of food or by the accumulation of their 
own secreted products which are injurious to them. 

Nor have I referred to the life history of these organisms nor 
the artificial methods of cultivating them and keeping their 
strain pure. That can be seen daily—and it is well worth 
seeing—in the Bacteriological Laboratory, an Institution of 
which we in Queensland may very well be proud. 

I know I undertook a very large order when I christened 
my address ; and now, too late, I am aware I have not been 
able to complete my contract, but at least I have submitted 
some scattered specimens of what ought to be, and if from 
these you can realise the dynamics, of a microscopic world and 
appreciate the obligations we are under to lowly life in its most 
elementary form, the past hour has not been spent in vain. 

I cannot help thinking that bacterial reductions and 
decompositions are the real mills of God, referred to by 
Longfellow :— 


Though the mills of God grind slowly, 
Yet they grind exceeding small ; 

Though with patience He stands waiting, 
With exactness grinds He all. 


REFERENCHS. 

1, Angell: Wine ; 2, Bennett: Physiology; 3, Chamber’s Encyclopeedia: 
articles, Life, and Spontaneous Generation ; 4, Conn: The Story of Germ 
Life; 5, Crookshank: Bacteriology; 6, Drinkwater: Bread; 7, Durie: 
Beer and Brewing; 8, Fraenkel: Bacteriology ; 9, Frankland: Our Seeret 
Friends and Foes; 10, Green: Birth and Growth of Worlds ; 11, Griffiths : 
Micro-Organisms ; 12, v. Jaksch: Clinical Diagnosis ; 13, Kendall: Sewerage 
and Health; 14, Kanthack : The General Pathology of Infection, Allbutt’s 
System of Medicine, Vol. 1; 15, Muir and Ritchie: Bacteriology; 16, New- 
man: Bacteria, Progressive Science Series; 17, Sims Woodhead : Bacteria 
and their Products; 18, Tyndall: Ilouting Matter in the Air. 


XX BY J. THOMSON, M.B. 


APPENDIX. 


List of Slides thrown on the Screen during the Address. 
“15.—Kindly lent by Mr. Pound, Director of the Bacteriological Institute. 
+7.—Reproductions of Prints or Printed Matter by the President, Dr. J. 
Thomson. 
36.—Original Photo-micrographs by the President, Dr. J. Thomson. 
+1.—Tyndall’s Sterile Case. 
2,—Bacillus of Anthrax. 
+3.—Classification of Bacteria. 
+4.—Subdivisions of Cocci. 
5-—Diplococci, Neisser’s Coccus. 
6.—Diplococci, Pneumococci. 
*7.—Diplococci, shewing capsule. 
*8.—Streptococci, coloured. 
9.—Tetracocci, in fours, Sarcina Lutea. 
*10.—Sarcine, in packets of eight or more. 
11.—Bacilli, square ends. 
12.—Bacilli, square ends. 
13.—Bacilli, round ends. 
14.—Bacilli, clubbed ends. 
*15.—Spirilla, S. Rubra. 
*16.—Spirilla, S$. Rubra and Bacteria Termo. 
*17.—Spirilla, Spirocheta. 
+18.—Bacterial Groups, classification. 
*19.—Yeast, Saccharo-myces Rosaceus, budding. 
*20.—Yeast, Saccharo-myces, white. 
*21.—Yeast, Torula, pink. 
*92,—Yeast. Torula, pink, a colony. 
+23.—Vinous Fermentation, chemical equation. 
424.—Acetous Fermentation, chemical equation. 
+25.—Infectious Diseases, list and classification from Allbutt. 
26.—Micro-organisms of Septiczemia x 1000. 
27.—Bacillus of Diphtheria, pure cultivation x 1000. 
28.—Bacillus of Diphtheria, direct from patient x 1200. 
*29.—Bacillus of Tetanus. 
30.—Bacillus of Typhoid x 1000. 
31.—Bacillus of Plague, inoculation, guinea pig x 1000. 
32.—Bacillus of Plague, man, bipolar staining x 1000. 
33.—Bacillus of Plague, man, bipolar staining x 2000. 
34.—Bacillus of Tubercle, cultivation x 500. 
35.— Bacillus of Tubercle, from sputum x 1000. 
36.--Bacillus of Tubercle, from sputum x 1000 (shewing scheme for 
measuring). 
37.—Bacillus of Leprosy, smear from leproma x 500. 
38.—Bacillus of Leprosy, smear from leproma x 1000. 
39.—Actinomycosis Bovis, shewing clubs x 240. 
40.—Actinomycosis Bovis, shewing clubs x 500. 
41.—Bacillus of Anthrax x 250. 
42.—Bacillus of Anthrax, blood of mouse x 500. 


PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. . xxi 


43.—Pyrisoma Bigeminum, organism of Tick Fever x 500. 
*44,.—Phacocytosis, frog’s blood, giant cells and Tubercle Bacilli. 
*45.—Phacocytosis, frog’s blood, giant cells and Tubercle Bacilli. 
*46.—Phacocytosis, Leucocytes and Typhoid Bacilli. 

47.—Chromogenetic organisms, yellow, Sarcine. 

48.—Chromogenetic organisms, violet, 5. Ianthinus. 

49.—Chromogenetic organisms, red, B. Indicus. 

50.—Bacillus Figurans, the Figure x 35. 

51.—Bacillus Figurans, details of the Figure x 1000. 

*52.—Sewage Bacteria, Proteus Vulgaris. 

When the first slide was on the screen, Tyndall’s description of his bor, 
its manner of use and details of the experiments conducted by its aid, were 
read from his book, ‘‘ Floating Matter in the Air.” 


A vote of thanks to the President for his address was 
moved by Mr. W. J. Byram, seconded by Mr. J. Cameron, 
and carried. 


The Election of: Officers for the year 1901 then took place 
with the following result :—President, W. J. Byram ; Hon. 
Treasurer, Hon. A. Norton, M.L.C.; lon Secretary, J. F. 
Bailey ; Hon. Librarian, R. Ilidge ; Members of Council, A. G. 
Jackson, C. J. Pound, F’.R.M.S.; J. Shirley, B.Se.; J. W. 
Sutton, J. Thomson, M.B.; Hon. Auditor, A. J. Turner ; 
Trustee (in place of W. A. Tully, resigned) John Cameron. 


Dr. W. E. Roth, Protector of Aborigines, exhibited a 
number of drawings of native basket work, and real several 
letters written by aboriginal girls at the Cape Bedford Mission 
Station, in their own language, after which the proceedings 
terminated. 


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- END OF VOLUME XVI. 


ISBANE 


BRISBA 


9 


ET 


PART I. 
WITH 4 PLATES. 


PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY 


‘YOLUME XVII. 


see 
coma 
ee 
ao 


. POLE & CO, PRINTERS, ELIZABETH STRE 


he 
i D 


AS 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF THE 


ROYAL SOCIETY 


OF 


a MN STAND. 


VOLUME XVII. 
(WITH 14 PLATES.) 


== 


[The Authors alone are responsible for the opinions expressed in their j apers.| 


PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY 
BY 


H. POLE & CO., PRINTERS, ELIZABETH STREET, BRISBANE. 


1903. 


INDEX.—VOL. XVII. 


Acacia acuminata, BENTH. 
Actinomycosis 

Aegiceras majus 

Ambaassis marianus 

Aralia 


Barklya syringifolia .. 
Byram, W. J.— 


Recent Aspect of the Cell 
Theory (exculaeuye re 


dress) 


Callianassa sp. 
Cell Theory, Recent rae of 
the .. 


Ceratopagon a aemniua 
CoLLeDpGE, W. R.— 
Notes on a Species of Sand- 
fly (with 4 plates) 
Cossidae, Anetra 
boring 
CrooksHANK, PROF. KE. M.— 


An Address on Science and 
the State, with special 
reference to Tuberculosis 
and the public health 


Culama expressa, Lucas 


Naat 


Diptera sp. we 
Domestic Water Supply of 
Brisbane, &c. . =e 


Endoxyla boisduvalii, Rous .. 
Macleayi, Scorr 

Frost, On the Possibility of Pre- 
venting Damage by 3 


HeEnvERSON, J. B., F.1.C.— 


Domestic Water Supply of 
Brisbane, with special 
reference to the presence 
of zine in tank waters 


Inuines, R. & Quant, A., F.E.S.— 


Australian Woodboring Cos- 
sidae (Plate VII.) 


Immunity, Natural and Acquired 


Love. W. W. R., M.B.— 


Immunity, Natural and Ac- 
quired - A 


Lueas, T. P., M.R. Os 


A few Scientific Notes taken 
during the present drought 


Martin, 8. G., A.1.A.— 


The Principal Causes of 
Mortality in Queensland 


Macrozamia Fraseri, Miq. 


Mortality in Qrecndiane ue 
Principal Causes of 


Mycteris longicarpus. . 


180 


131 


New England— Reminiscences 
during the Fifties 


Norton, Hon. A., M.L.C.— 
New England—Reminiscen- 
ces during the Fifties 


Settling in Queensland, and 
the reasons for doing so, 
with special reference to 
drought we 


Nuytsia floribunda .. 
Opuntia vulgaris 


Paspalum dilatatum 


Proceedings of Annual Meeting 


of Members, 1902. . 
1903. . 


” ” 


Pseudo-tubercle bacilli 


Report of Couneil for 1901 
” ” 1902 
Rornu, W. E., M.R.C.8.— 


Notes of Savage Life in the 
early days of West Aus- 
tralian Settlement ca 
v and vi) 


Sand Lobster 
Sandfly, Notes on a Specie of 


Savage Life in the early days of 
West Australian Settle- 
ment, Notes of.. 


Scientific Notes taken silat 
the present drought 


SEFFER, P. OLSSON— 


On the Possibility of Pre- 
venting Damage by Frost 


Settling in Queensland, and the 
Reasons for doing so 


Sillago Bassensis, Cuv. & Val... 
ciliata, GUNTH 
de Bass, Quoy & Gay. 
maculata, BLEEK. 

,,  Terrae-Reginae, Cast. 
Soldier Crab 
Streptothria actinomyces 


” 
” 


” 


Timothy bacillus 
Tos, J. R., M.A., B.Se.— 


On the Common Whiting 
of Moreton = eae 


viii-xiv) 

Tuberculosis and the Public 
Health 

Water Supply of bacco 
Domestic 

Whiting of Moreton Bay, On 
the Common .. a 

Zamia ai 

Zinc in tank water.. = 


Page. 


180 
17 


175 


175 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF THE 


Annual Meeting of Members, 


HELD ON SATURDAY, 15th FEBRUARY, 1902. 


The Annual Meeting of the Society was held on Saturday, 
15th February, 1902. The President, Mr. W. J. Byram, 
occupied the chair, and there was a large attendance. 


The Report of the Council for the Session 1901 was read 
by the Hon. Secretary (Mr. J. F’. Bailey) as follows :— 


To the Members of the Royal Society of Queensland. 
y y 0 


According to custom your Council submit the annual 
report for the year 1901 :— 


The ordinary meetings have been fairly well attended, but 
it must be admitted that the attendances cannot be compared 
with those in the earlier stages of the Society’s existence. It 
is also a source of regret that several of the Society’s members, 
who are engaged in original research, have forwarded their 
papers to southern societies for publication. The primary aim 
of the Society is the encouragement of original research, 
although it has as a subsidiary object the promotion of scientific 
knowledge and the fostering of scientific pursuits. Your 
Council hope, therefore, that the members who are engaged in 
research of an original character will not pass over their own 
Society and thus weaken its salient object. 


With a view to assisting as well the original worker as the 
demonstrator or lecturer your Council procured from 
Ross and Co., Limited, of London, a microscopical attachment 
for the science lantern previously supplied by them, and it ig 
to be hoped that members will make use of this instrument, 
whenever practicable, in illustrating the results of their work. 


A list of the papers read at ordinary meetings of the 
Society during the year is given in Appendix A. Instead of the 
ordinary meeting in October a lantern and microscopial evening 
was held in the Centennial Hall, and was very largely attended. 

Fourteen Council meetings have been held during the year, 
and the attendance of members of the Council at the meetings 
will be found in Appendix B. 


li REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. 


Four new members were elected during the year, viz:— 
Messrs. 8. W. G. Rich; B. O. Meek, M.R.C.V.S.L.; Robert 
Hall and Dr. Walter Fisher. 


A copy of the annual financial statement of the Society 
will be found in Appendix C, and from this it will be seen that 
its finances are in a satisfactory condition. | 

A large number of donations have been received for the 
library during the year, and the binding of the volumes is being 
steadily proceeded with. Glass doors have been fitted to the 
bookshelves, and it is intended to procure additional shelves 
and cupboards, as the existing accommodation is insufficient. 

At the invitation of the Central Bureau of the International 
Catalogue of Scientific Literature, London, a Regional Bureau 
for Queensland has been formed, to constitute which the 
following members have been appointed :—The President (ex- 
officio), Hon. A. Norton, Dr. J. Thomson, Mr. W. J. Byram, 
with Mr. J. Shirley, B. Sc. as Hon. Secretary. 


WILLIAM J. BYRAM, 


President. 


J, 2: BAIMEY, 
Hon. Secretary. 


APPENDIX A. 


List or Papers READ DURING 1901 Szrsston. 


Date. Title. Author. 


April . 13 | The principal causes of mortality 
in Queensland ... | S. G. Martin. 


July . 20 | The internal structure of plants J. Shirley, B.Sc. 


August 24 | The preservation of Bacterial | 
Cultures by formalin .. C.J. Pound, F.R.M.S. 


November 16 | Notes on the Sand Fly.. .. W.R. Colledge. 
December 14 : Impressions of Peru... .. Rev. W. Farnsworth, M.A. 


REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. dt \ 


Memeers ELECTED DURING THE YEAR 1901. 


Date. | Name. Proposer. 
August 24/J.W.G.Rich. .. ae .. | J. Shirley, B.Sc. 
‘August 24 | B.O. Meek, M.R.C.V.S.L. .. | W. Ei. Quinnell, 
M.R.C.V.S.L. 
December 14 | Robert Hall ae an < | C. W. DeVis, M.A. 
December 14 | Dr. W. Fisher .. #, ae | James Keys, F.L.S. 


APPENDIX B 


ATTENDANCE OF OFFICERS AT THE Councitt MEETINGS DURING 


THE 1901 Szxssion. 


° ; Number 
Office. f Name. attended 


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Hon. Librarian .. | R. Illidge es ae st 11 
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PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS Vi 


The adoption of the Report was moved by the Hon. A. 
Norton, M.L.C., seconded by Mr. A. J. Turner, and carried. 

The Election of Officers for the year 1902 then took place, 
with the following result :—President, Dr. John Thomson ; 
Vice-President, Dr. W. W. R. Love; Hon. Treasurer, Hon. A. 
Norton, M.L.C.; Hon. Secretary, J. F. Bailey ; Hon. Librarian, 
R. Lidge ; Members of Council, A. G. Jackson, C. J. Pound, J. 
Shirley, B.Sce.; J. W. Sutton, and I’. Whitteron ; Hon. Auditor, 
A. J. Turner. 

The retiring President (Mr. W. J. Byram) then delivered 
an address, entitled “ Recent Aspect of the Cell Theory.” 


PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 


Recent Aspect or THE CELL THeory. 


The history of science presents numerous instances of 
theories which have, for the time being, appeared to receive 
confirmation from observed facts, and to afford a satisfactory 
explanation of the phenomena involved, and which yet, on 
further research and fuller scrutiny, are found to be but half- 
truths, or generalisations based upon data too restricted in their 
scope. This resting for the time being upon defective induc- 
tions in order to obtain a working hypothesis, and by recourse 
to repeated experiment and observation, to draw ever nearer the 
truth, is indeed the essence of the scientific method. A discip- 
lined imagination has been as large a factor in the progress of 
science as the most laborious research, or the most persistent 
and patient observation, but the mind which has become imbued 
with the scientific method is scientific even in its imaginings, 
and holds all its inferences tentatively, and ready on every oppor- 
tunity to subject them to the most rigorous criticism and to the 
test of actual experience. This is the method which is the gate- 
way to truth, and some of its most beautiful applications are 
found in the phases through which the cell theory has passed 
since it was first vaguely foreshadowed at the close of the seven- 
teenth century, and was definitely promulgated in 1838, by the 
German biologist Schleiden. The conception of this theory, 
and of evolution, has created the science of biology in its modern 
sense, and has changed the whole attitude of thought. It can- 
not, therefore, be otherwise than of the deepest moment to 
realise what this conception was, how it has been modified by 
the results of subsequent research, and to what conclusion the 
most recent views are tending. ‘The cell theory is simply the 


“@ 
vi PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 


generalisation that all animals and plants consist of a cell or 
cells—the lowest being constituted by a single cell, and the more 


complex being built up of a number of cells, either all alike and 
without differentiation, or in the higher organisms modified and 
adapted to subserve a variety of functions. What the cell is, 
what are its contents, what is their relative importance, and 
why it is the seat of life, are questions which have passed 
through such changing phases that now the very word “ cell ” is 
seen to be a misnomer based upon a half-truih, and although 
the word is retained it is only because it has taken its place in 
scientific nomenclature, and is now used as a term whereby to 
designate the biological unit. In the latter part of the seven- 
teenth century the study of plant structure led to the observation 
of minute spaces or compartments, provided with firm walls in 
some cases, empty in others, filled or partly filled with fluid 
contents. ‘These little compartments, which are so minute that 
they can only be seen under the microscope, received the name 
of cells, and the term cell had every appearance of appropriate- 
ness, for in plants these units appear to be minute vesicles, each 
surrounded by its own wall. This was the view promulgated by 
Schleiden in 1838, and he declared that plants are made up of 
cells, and that their vessels are modifications of cells. Why 
Schleiden reached such a conclusion will be obvious if we 
examine some examples of cells. If we take, for instance, a 
small portion of a seaweed and examine it microscopically under 
a magnification of about 100 diameters, it will be observed that 
it is built up of minute compartments, each surrounded with a 
comparatively thick wall. A similar structure is characteristic 
of plants generally. The thickened cell walls are well seen if we 
examine a piece of the substance known as rice paper, which is 
obtained by sections of the herbaceous stem of the Chinese plant 
Aralia. The cuticle of a leaf also affords a typical illustration. 
Stripped off ard examined under a power of about 150 diameters, 
not only the cells of the epiderm are seen, but the peculiar modi- 
fied cells known as guard cells, which flank the pores or stomata 
of the plant. These cells, though altered in shape by their 
adaptation as supports, nevertheless present the same appearance 
of minute vesicles. If we make a transverse section of the leaf, 
from surface to surface, and magnify it to about the same extent, 
we see the same cellular structure varying from the more com- 
pact cells of the epiderm to the more expanded cells of the 
interior, and a transverse section of a stem or twig presents the 
same cellular formation. Im the pith of a rush the cell walls 


BY W. J. BYRAM. vii 


are again curiously altered in shape and have taken a stellate 
formation, and the cells extending the whole length of the 
slender stem impart to it the qualities of strength combined with 
flexibility and lightness; but if a single cell is selected and 
examined, it will be seen that it still to all appearances answers 
to the description of an enclosed sac or vesicle. The examina- 
tion of the vessels of plants led Schleiden to the conclusion that 
they are the derivatives of a series of cell walls. If we cut a 
thin longitudinal section from the stem of a fern we see a ladder- 
like structure, consisting of what are known as scalariform 
vessels. In these the old cell walls lie in a series close together, 
and give rise to a vessel whose surface presents the appearance 
of a series of steps. Another form of cell derivative is found in 
the spiral vessels where the former cell walls have coalesced 
to form a lengthened spiral. Leaving the tissues and vessels 
of the plant, and turning to its reproductive elements, 
we pick out a few of the pollen grains and ex- 
amine them under a sufficient magnifying power. We 
may take as an example the pollen-grains of the cotton 
magnified about 50 diameters. Here we have the biological 
units no longer united to constitute a tissue or aggregate, 
but detached and in the form of separate cells adapted to the 
special function of fertilising the germinal vesicle in the ovary. 
If we now descend in the scale of plant life and examine 
the humbler forms, such as the salt and fresh water algae, we 
find them still presenting the same appearance, for they consist 
of cell expansions, that is, an aggregate of units, each one the 
counterpart of the other united together in the form of a frond, 
as in many of the sea weeds, or filament, as in many of the 
fresh water forms. If we descend still further we come to 
minute plants like the desmids, each of which consists of one 
cell only. Here again we have reached detached units, as in the 
ease of the pollen cells of the flowering plants, but in the latter 
these units have become differentiated and specialised for the 
function of reproduction of the plant, while in unicellular plants 
like the desmids, each cell is a distinct organism, or in other 
words, is the plant itself. All such observations as these went 
to show that plants, from the lowest to the highest, are either 
themselves cells, or are built up of cells, and the modifications 
or derivatives of cells; and that the cell is a minute chamber 
Surrounded by a membrane or wall and enclosing fluids. So 
far the theory was confined to plants, but another German 
biologist, Schwann, published the results of a series of experi- 


vill PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 


ments, which extended the theory to the minute structure of 
animals, and enunciated the comprehensive generalisation that 
animals resemble plants in being composed of cells. If we 
examine under a high power a little human blood, we find 
examples of two forms of cells floating in a colourless liquid— 
the red corpuscles, which impart to the blood its red colour, and 
the white ones. The examination of « section of spinal chord, 
or of cartilage or bone, shows that animals, not less than plants, 
are aggregates of cells and the products or derivatives of cells. 
In animals, however, the amount of formed material, as it is 
called, derived from the cells bears a much larger proportion to 
the whole, and the cellular structure is consequently frequently 
obscured. Again, as we descend in the scale of animal life, we 
meet with organisms which are little more than a double layer 
of cells, as in the hydra, a little creature frequently met with in 
fresh water ponds, the outer layer acting as a sensory system 
and the inner as a digestive apparatus. And in such lowly 
forms as the sunanimalcule, a minute-rayed animalcule often 
found in standing water, we reach at length the unit or single 
cell existing as a separate individual. The correspondence 
therefore between animals and plants, in either consisting of 
one of these elementary units, or being built up of a number of 
them, and their derived material and secretions, is evident. 
Schleiden and Schwann, however, believed that the cell was in 
all cases, as the name implies, a cellula or enclosed vesicle; and 
although they did not overlook the cell contents, they thought 
that the cell wall was the essentially vital portion of the cell, 
and that the interior parts were merely subsidiary. Schwann 
seems to have been led to this belief by observing that the cell 
wall was the most persistent part, and that there were many 
cells in which the contents had dwindled away, while the cell 
wall remained. But further research has demonstrated that 
these conceptions are erroneous. In the first place, it was 
discoveced that many of these elementary units, both in the 
constitution cf complex organisms and in those lowly forms 
which each consist of but one unit, have no cell wall whatever. 
In the sunanimalcule, for example, which is but a single cell, 
no cell wall exists: the most that can be detected is a slightly 
greater density at the surface and a slightly increased fluidity 
within. The same is the case with the amzba—a microscopic 
jelly-like speck, found frequently in stagnant water. The outer 
portion of the cell is, perhaps, slightly denser than the inner ; 
but the difference can scarcely be detected, and the animalcule 


BY W. J. BYRAM. ix 


is so plastic that it undergoes many Protean changes as it 
slowly creeps across the glass, beneath which it is placed for 
examination. It is a remarkable fact, however, that the amzeba 
sometimes passes into what is known as the encysted state: 
that is, it draws in all its processes, assumes an oval shape, and 
secretes a cell wall, In this condition it greatly resembles a 
plant cell. From such observations as these it became evident 
that an error had been made in the generalisation that the cell 
is an enclosed vesicle, for here we meet with the unit existing 
in its ordinary state without any limiting membrane, and the 
study of animal histology has disclosed the fact that, just as 
vegetable cells usually possess well marked cell walls, the reverse 
is the rule with animal cells, which commonly lack the cell wall 
altogether. When the theory was revised in the light of these 
revelations it was, of course, at once apparent, that not only 
was the term ‘‘cell’’ a misnomer, as applied to the biological 
unit generally; but, as a large number of cells are entirely 
destitute of the cell wall, that part of the cell could not 
only no longer be looked upon as the most important, but 
where it exists, must be regarded as quite subsidiary. 
These discoveries and consequent change of aspect in the theory 
gave rise to developmenis which have been of the utmost 
significance in the progress of biology. Biologists fixed their 
attention on the cell contents, and the result was that the cell 
theory entered upon a new phase, which so changed its whole 
aspect, that it might almost be enunciated afresh and termed 
the protoplasmic theory. In his researches Schleiden, while 
assigning the primary importance to the cell wall, had not 
overlooked the fact that many of the cells which he examined 
contained a semi-fluid substance interspersed with granules. 
To this he gave the name of plant slime. Later on this 
substance was designated protoplasm, or primary formative 
substance ; and it was found to possess characteristic movements, 
and to be most abundant in very young cells and more scanty in 
older ones. A similar glairy, contractile substance had been 
observed in animal cells, and called sarcode or elementary flesh. 
This substance was readily studied in the microscopic marine 
animals known as radiolara and foraminifera; for these forms 
consist of single units enclosed in minute tests or shells of 
carbonate of lime, and when in a state of activity they put out 
their substance in the form of lengthened processes from the 
numerous little pores which exist in their shells. Indeed they 


seem almost to imitate the magic of Ariel, and to be able to 
c 


x PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 


divide themselves and act dispersedly, for in some of them 
almost the whole cell substance may be withdrawn from the 
shell and spread abroad in the form of minute rays, which, 
nevertheless, unite in different places or inosculate, as it is termed, 
and form irregular patches or. reticulations. After extensive 
research, two German biologists—Max Schultze and de Bary— 
in 1859 demonstrated that the so called sarcode or elementary 
flesh was identical with protoplasm, and although the term cell 


was retained, all reference to an enclosed vesicle was discarded, 


and it was simply defined as a minute portion of this substance, 
protoplasm, endowed with the attributes of life. Here again, 
however, biologists suffered themselves to be dominated by a 
particular idea, and it led to conceptions which are now seen 
to be erroneous. Protoplasm was said to be akin to the group 
of complex compounds known as proteids, of which albumen, 
or white of egg, is an example, and was thought by many to be 
one of these compounds, and by others to be a mixture of two 
or more or them. Although, therefore, observers had noticed 
the minute oval or elongated body in the cell, known as the 
nucleus, and had not overlooked the appearance of minute 
granules interspersed through the protoplasm of the cell, these 
phenomena were not supposed to possess any special significance. 
The protoplasm itself was conceived to be the life substance, or, 
as Professor Huxley defined it, ‘‘ the physical basis of life.” 
It was said that pure protoplasm would not show either nucleus 
or granular structure, but would be perfectly homogeneous and 
undifferentiated, and would have as its salient property—life or 
vitality. This conception was borne out by the great strides 
which were being made in chemistry. The synthetic powers of 
the chemist were no longer confined to the production of the 
simple inorganic compounds, but extended to the far 
more complex substances which are the result of animal 
and vegetable life. It was found that just as the chemist could 
combine artificially two volumes of hydrogen gas with one of 
oxygen, and produce by their combination the liquid—water with 
all its essential characteristics just as it exists in nature, so he 
could combine, for instance, hydrogen, carbon, and oxygen in 
just such proportions as to produce that acrid, pungent, liquid 
found naturally in the bodies of ants, and known as formic acid. 
Considering protoplasm to be a very complex chemical compound, 
or even a mixture of chemical compounds, it was a very natural 
inference for the chemist that only its great complexity 
prevented him from making it artificially, just as he had made 


BY W. J. BYRAM. xi 


formic acid; and that, just as when he succeeded in making 
formic acid, it had that distinctive pungency and acidity which 
characterise it in the bodies of ants, so if he succeeded in 
making protoplasm it would ipso facto possess its salient 
property—life. These views led to a persistent research on the 
part of biologists for that perfectly homogeneous protoplasm in 
which they believed, and in repeated attempts to discover the 
composition of the molecule of protoplasm as an initial step 
towards its artificial production, and the consequent solution of 
the sublime problem of life. Such attempts resulted in some 
strange misconceptions and too hasty conclusions, of which, 
perhaps, the most remarkable was Professor Huxley’s belief that 
he had discovered the perfectly homogeneous protoplasm, for 
which all were seeking, in a collection obtained by deep sea 
soundings during the cruise of the exploring ship Challenger. 
As the result of these observations, Huxley stated that the 
bottom of the ocean was covered with a diffused mass of 
protoplasm, so homogeneous that it did not display any cell 
structure, and showed no trace of a nucleus or granulation. 
Huxley called this supposed diffused protoplasm Bathybias, or 
“« deep-sea life substance.’’ Coming from so acute an observer 
and so high an authority, this announcement was received with 
the keenest interest, and it was believed that the chemical 
protoplasmic theory had won the day. But the subsequent 
analysis of this deep-sea deposit showed it to have no connection 
with life or protoplasm, but to be simply a mineral precipitate, 
and Huxley, true to his principles of sincerity and candour, was 
the first to proclaim his error. The history of science is full of 
similar misconceptions, and, far from being a theme for regret, 
we must recognise that they are but the result of the imagina- 
tion, which is a salient element in the scientific method, 
outstripping that unwearied observation and research which 
alone can act as its corrective, and restrain it within serviceable 
limits. But the demonstration of the error of Bathybias led 
biologists to revise the theory and to examine the cell or 
elementary unit with increased care and caution. There is in 
the cell a minute oval or elongated body, which has received the 
name of the nucleus. While the early observers looked upon 
this body as a mere insignificant adjunct—a little piece of 
protoplasm somewhat denser than the rest—biologists now 
began to pay increased attention to it, and the result was that 
nucleii were discovered in cells which had previously been 
deemed to be devoid of them. The nucleus was then discovered 


xil PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 


to be directly concerned in the vital activity of the cell. Proofs 
of this were abundantly forthcoming. For instance, on many 
ponds you will observe tangled masses of green slimy substance, 
known as spirogyra. When some of this is removed and 
examined microscopically, it is found to consist of long filaments, 
consisting of cells united end to end, and through each cell runs 
a beautiful spiral green band. If the contents of the cell are 
examined through the opening of this spiral, the nucleus will be 
observed, and passing to it from the walls of the cell are strands 
of protoplasm. The nucleus gradually shifts its position and 
traverses the cell, carrying with it the protoplasmic strands. 
Moreover, if the filaments are kept under observation for 
some time, it will be found that at times two of them approach 
each other and lie side by side. Then canals are put out by 
the cells on one side and unite with those on the other, and the 
contents of the cells on one side are poured through these into 
the cells on the other. Then comes the significant fact; the 
two nucleii approach each other and finally coalesce. A spore is 
formed by the union of the contents of the two cells, and by the 
coalescence of the two nucleii is formed the germinal nucleus of the 
spore. Again, if we study for an hour or two such an animalcule as 
the vorticella—a minute infusor, just visible in the colonies of the 
larger species to the naked eye, and frequently occurring in 
ponds we find that each unit consists of a single cell, placed on a 
corkscrew-like stalk, which expands and contracts. Its structure 
can be readily studied under the microscope, and the nucleus 
will be at once detected. If one of the cells is kept under 
examination for a sufficient time, the phenomenon of division 
can be watched. After a period of active feeding and rapid 
movement of its circlet of hair-like processes, or cilia, the latter 
are drawn in, a cleft or groove appears at the top, the nucleus 
elongates, and the cell gradually divides through the nucleus 
into two complete cells, one-half of the nucleus remaining in 
each. It is common, therefore, to find two cells on the same 
stalk, the process not having progressed to the extent of a 
Separate stalk for each. But the essential point here is the 
partition of the nucleus between the cells, which are formed as 
the result of subdivision, and the inference which arises that the 
nucleus is the centre of vital activity. That this inference is 
correct has been demonstrated in a remarkable manner. A 
lowly animaleule is cut in pieces under a dissecting microscope. 
Some of the pieces are severed so as to include no part of the 
nucleus, and others so as to contain portions of that singular 


BY W. J. BYRAM. Xili 


body. The result is very striking. The pieces which include 
no portion of the nucleus continue to exhibit vital activities for 
a time, but these soon come to an end, and death is the result. 
On the other hand, the pieces which have retained portions of 
the nucleus actually continue to carry on the vital activities and 
to assimilate food and grow, as if no such partition had been 
made. Here then, at once, we have a new restatement of the 
cell theory. It is not the cell wall which is the essential 
element, as Schleiden and Schwann thought, the protoplasmic 
contents are not the all-in-all, as the observers which followed 
them stated; but, as far, at any rate, as the powers of food 
assimilation, growth, and reproduction are concerned, the 
nucleus is an all-important factor. But this discovery was 
attended by another. The improvement in microscopes and 
microscopical methods enabled observers to see that proto- 
plasm is not by any means homogeneous or structureless, 
and the former idea, that it is a chemical compound or 
mixture of such, having life as its attribute, is aban- 
doned, for protoplasm is found to consist of an infinitely 
delicate network of slender fibres, forming a_ reticulated 
material, which is interspersed with very minute granules known 
as microsomes, and this network is filled with a transparent 
fluid. It is therefore apparent that, as in the term “ cell,’’ the 
essential idea to which the name ‘‘ protoplasm’”’ was given, has 
actually vanished, and the name is only retained to designate 
this conjunction of a filamentous network, and clear liquid, 
which constitute part of the constituents of the biological unit. 
Another complete change of conception has resulted from recent 
research, for the nucleus itself instead of being, as was formerly 
thought, a minute speck of protoplasm rather more dense than 
that which surrounds it, is found to be a distinct element, itself 
an intricate complex different in composition and with activities 
peculiar to it, but co-operating with the reticulated mass and 
fluid constituents. Within late years the structure of the nucleus 
has been studied with great care. It is found to consist of a 
membrane, which separates it from the surrounding cell sub- 
stance, but this membrane is a variable characteristic, for it is 
sometimes absent, and usually disappears as a preliminary to 
subdivision. The nucleus, too, has been shown to contain dis- 
tinct substances. There is a network, or framework, of the most 
delicate nature in the nuclear cavity, to which the name ‘‘linin yi 
has been given; there is a nuclear sap, and a distinct proteid 
substance which is the preponderating material both in quantity 


xiv PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 


and importance, This constituent ig known as ‘“nuclein,” or 
“chromatin,” the latter name being given to it on account of 
its taking a very deep stain when subjected to staining reagents: 
The nuucleus not only plays a most important part in the life o 
the cell, but it is that portion of the cell which passes from one 
generation to another, and in ‘his process the chromatin is an 
active agent. In cell subdivision one-half of it becomes appor- 
tioned to each of the resulting cells, and it is the medium of 
the momentous phenomenon of heredity. Besides, the nucleus 
microscopists have within late years detected in the cell, and 
lying near the nucleus, another small body so minute that it was 
overlooked until the efficiency of modern instruments disclosed 
it. This body, which has been called the « centrosone,”’ appears 
to exercise a controlling influence upon the vital phenomena, 
for around it the protoplasmic granules are found to be arranged 
in rays, as if the lines of force radiated from it. This centro- 
some generally soon divides into two, and is found reduplicated, 
thus presenting the appearance of two minute stars. The precise 
function of this body and the nature of its action are at present 
not understood, but in cell division it appears to be the mechan- 
ism which controls the process and regulates the apportionment 
of the chromatin between the resulting new cells. It will now 
be at once realised how completely the cell theory has been 
modified since the days when it was usual to talk about proto- 
plasm as a homogeneous chemical compound, having for its 
attribute that property of being alive. To look at the delicate 
framework of fibres, studded with granules and filled with clear 
liquid, the complicated nucleus, with its network, and chromatin 
threads, and nucleolus, and the strange rayed body known as the 
centrosome lying near it, is to prepare the mind for thé 
recent enunciation of the cell theory, which is so unlike the old 
doctrine that nothing but the words remain, and they remain 
only because without creating any particular confusion they have 
acquired a new signification. The cell theory may now be con- 
cisely stated thus: Just as the steam engine is a machine for 
the production of motion, or the dynamo is a machine for the 
production of electricity, so the cell is an infinitely subtle and 
delicate machine, the resultant of whose working is life. This 
is a novel and startling deduction, but so consonant with all the 
observed phenomena anil with the structure of the cell that it 
becomes a far more efficient hypothesis than any which have 
preceded it. So completely have the old views undergone 
modification, that it has even been questioned lately that the 


BY W. J. BYRAM. XV 


higher organisms are aggregates of independent units, for in 
many cases protoplasmic strands have been detected passing 
from cell to cell. It has, therefore, been suggested that the 
so-called multicellular animals and plants are complexes of a 
multitude of nucleated centres all in vital inter-connection—the 
one with the other. These inferences are not established, and, 
if they were, they do not affect the hypothesis that the cell units 
are delicate life machines. It is apparent that in unicellular 
animals and plants the unit exists per se, and in many instances 
cells detached from multicellular animals and plants can con- 
tinue their life either indefinitely or for a time. The ciliated 
epithelial cells, which may be obtained by scraping a frog’s 
throat, have all the appearance of infusorial animalcule. They 
are nucleated cells, and, when detached, they can swim about for 
a time by means of their processes, and lead an independent life. 
Again, in the zoophytes,—those minute organisms which are 
found in rock pools left by the receding tide—each unit, or 
‘“« zooid,’’ as it is called, although in organic connection with the 
stalk, which is the common base of all, and thus united with the 
others in a colony, is a distinct animalcule, and may be detached 
and live a separate life. The volvox globator affords another 
example of the inter-connection of the cell units. It is a minute 
colony of plant cells, united so as to form a bright green globule, 
just visible to the naked eye, moving through the water in which 
it lives by means of the combined ciliary action of the cells. If, 
while under examination, the cells are carefully focussed with 
the fine adjustment of the microscope, they are found to be 
united, giving rise to a delicate hexagonal appearance over the 
surface of the sphere. But it will be found that certain of the 
cells enlarge and subdivide, and finally detach from the mother 
sphere internally, and by repeated subdivisions develop into new 
spheres. Thus, while there is an inter-connection of cells 
in the multicellular plants and animals, and it is probably a 
misconception to regard such organisms as mere cell aggregates 
or complex groups of independent units, it would be no less a 
misconception to consider that the significance of the unit had 
disappeared. We might as well declare that because we have a 
centre of social activity in Sydney and another in Brisbane, the 
connection of the two by a line of railway obliterates the 
position of both as independent communities. In accordance, 
therefore, with the hypothesis which now prevails, the cell is a 
very delicate piece of mechanism of vast complexity. It is 
supplied with fuel in the shape of nutrient material, and by the 


Xvi PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS 


action of the oxygen of the air this fuel is oxidised or burnt up ; 
the mechanism consequently does work; complex chemical 
changes take place ; and the ultimate resultant is life, manifested 
by the essentially vital phenomena of movement, irritability, 
metabolism, or the power of converting the altered nutrient 
material into its own likeness and reproduction. ‘The pheno- 
mena of movemement and irritability can be exhibited by that 
part of the mechanism which we still called protoplasm, even if 
it is deprived of the nucleus, but metabolism and reproduction 
are essentially functions of the nucleuas—that wonderful machine 
within a machine—which not only insures the continuance of 
life in the unit itself by enabling it to assimilate and grow, but’ 
which, by the agency of its marvellous constituent, chromatin, 
is the source of the bewildering problems of heredity. Besides 
its momentous and, at present, inscrutable resultant—life or 
vitality—the working of the cell creates a laboratory of the most 
intricate chemical changes, and gives rise to by-products of such 
vast importance that without them the whole range of plant life, 
and consequently of animal life, would be at an end. For 
instance, in the filaments of spirogyra we saw a spiral band, 
which is made up of beautiful light green granules, and each 
cell in the volvox displays the same green substance. ‘This 
product of cell activity, known as chlorophyll, is the source of 
green colouring of plants, and is the agent by which, under the 
influence of sunlight, they are enabled to assimilate carbon 
direct from the air by decomposing the carbonic acid gas present 
in it. Without chlorophyll plant life could not exist, and 
without plant life animal life would cease. There is another 
product of cell action which is scarcely less important. If we 
cut a thin section of potato and examine it under the microscope, 
we find the cells of which it is composed filled with minute 
grains, which, if carefully focussed, exhibit a fine, scarcely 
perceptible lamination. If we have a polarizing apparatus on 
our instrument, and observe these granules under polarised 
light, each becomes marked with a dark cross. This phenomenon 
tells us that we are looking at the starch granules which 
give the potato its flowery quality and nutrient properties. 
The cell, then, according to the most recent theory, is an intri- 
cate piece of mechanism—a life-engine—whose parts are admi- 
rably adapted to the production of vitality. If it is asked 
whether this theory brings us any nearer to answering the 
question, ‘‘ What is life?” the answer must not only be in the 
negative, but it must be at once admitted that we are further 


BY W. J. BYRAM. Xvli 


than ever from the solution of the problem. While it was 
thought that life was the property of a complex substance—pro- 
toplasm—it did not seem a very wild inference that human 
daring and ingenuity would overcome all difficulty, determine its 
molecule, and then, by a masterpiece of synthesis, make the 
substance artificially. ven if it were a mixture of proteid sub- 
stances, still the attempt did not seem utterly beyond the powers 
of the chemist. But now the whole aspect is changed. ‘That, 
even if he understood it, the biologist could succeed in making 
the delicate mechanism of protoplasm, and that stil’ more subtle 
and baffling complex—the nucleus—is about as probable as that 
the astronomer of the future will succeed in making a voyage to 
the planet Mars. We must be content, therefore, to plead 
ignorance. To say candidly, ‘“‘I do not know,” is quite scien- 
tific, for, coupled with the admission of ignorance, there is 
always the determination to strive to conquer it, however vast 
may be the difficulties ahead, and however faint may be the hope 
of overcoming them. Above all, we must not be tempted to 
bridge over lacune in our knowledge by dogmatic assertions, 
or to forget the lessons of caution which the history of the cell 
theory teaches us. Although presenting the aspect of high 
probability, the mechanical theory of life is still hypothesis, and 
we have no right to assert it otherwise. All we can say is, that 
the observed phenomena all appear to be in unison with it, and 
that being so, it forms the best working theory, and must be 
eccepted provisionally, unless and until it is displaced by a 
nearer approximation to the truth. 


A vote of thanks to the retiring President for his address 
was moved by Mr. John Cameron, M.L.A., seconded by Mr. S. 
G. Martin, and carried by acclamation. 

The proceedings then terminated. 


H. POLE & CO., ELIZABETH STREET, 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF THE 


Annual Meeting of Members, 


HELD ON SATURDAY, 15th JANUARY, 1903. 


The Annual Meeting of the Society was held on Saturday, 
17th January, 1903. 
The President (Dr. John Thomson) occupied the chair. 


The minutes of the last Annual Meeting were read and 
confirmed. 


The Hon. Secretary read the following Report of the 
Council for the 1902 Session :— 


To tHE MempBers oF THE Royat Society oF QUEENSLAND. 

According to custom, your Council submit their Report 
for the year 1902. 

Ordinary Meetings of Members were held regularly during 
the year, and a list of the papers read at these meetings will be 
found in Appendix A. 

Twelve meetings of the Council were held, and the 
attendance of officers is given in Appendix B. 

It will be seen by reference to the Treasurer’s Statement, 
that a further sum of £20 has been expended on the lantern. 
This amount was for additions that the Council considered would 
add to the usefulness of the instrument in illustrating papers 
where microscopical objects were dealt with. Mr. J. W. Sutton, 
who is now on a visit to Kngland, has kindly consented to 
arrange for the purchase of these additions. 

In May last, at the invitation of the President (Dr. John 
Thomson), Professor Crookshank delivered a lecture, under the 
auspices of the Society, on ‘‘ Science and the State, with special 
reference to Tuberculosis and the Public Health.” The Couneil 
have decided to print the lecture, and it will appear in the 
volume of Proceedings now in the press. 

Part 1 of Volume XVII. of the Proceedings was published 
in May last, when it was distributed to Members and also to 
Institutions and Societies on the exchange list. 

The Council have pleasure in recording that Mr. F. M. 
Bailey, one of the founders of the Society and an Ex-President, 
was, in December last, voted the highest honour in the gift of 


“se 


the Royal Society of New South Wales, viz., the Clarke ' 
Memorial Medal, which is awarded from time to time for 
meritorious contributions to the geology, mineralogy, or natural 
history of Australia. This is the third time the medal has come 
to Queensland, and the two previous recipients—Dr. R. L. Jack 
and the Hon. A. ©. Gregory, C.M.G., M.L.C.—are also 
Members of the Society of long standing. 


XX REPORT OF COUNCIL. 


Many donations to the Library have been received 
during the year, and the work of binding has been con- 
tinued, 338 volumes having been bound at a cost of £52 Os. 6d. 


It will be seen by reference to the Treasurer's Statement 
(Appendix C), that the funds of the Society are in a satisfactory 
condition. ‘The Council regret, however, that a number of 
subscriptions for the past year have not been paid, and would 
urge those in default to pay as soon as possible. 


In January last the Hon. Secretary attended, as the 
representative of the Society, the Meeting of the Australasian 
Association for the Advancement of Science, which was held at 
Hobart. 


JOHN THOMSON, M.B., Epry., 
President. 
J. F. BAILEY, 


Hon. Secretary. 


BrisBANE, 5rH JANUARY, 1903. 


REPORT OF COUNCIL, 


xxl 


APPENDIX A. 


List or Papers Reap purING 1902 Sesston. 


Date. 
March - 8 
April - 12 
May - 22 
June - 21 
June - 21 
August - 2 
August - 16 
Septemb’r 13 
October 25 


November 15 


Title. 


Notes on Savage Life in the 
Early Days of West 
Australian Settlement. 


New England (N.S.W.) ; 
Reminiscences during 
the Fifties. (Part 1.) 


Science and the State ; with 
Special Reference to 
Tuberculosis and the 
Public Health. 


New England, &c. (Pait 2.) 
A Few Scientific 


Taken During 
Fresent Drought. 


Notes 
the 


On the Possibility of Pre- 


venting Damage by 
Frost. 

Immunity; Natural and 
Acquired. 


Domestic Water Supply of 
Brisbane; with Special 
Reference to the Pres- 
ence of Zine in Tank 
Waters. 


Settling in Queensland and 
the reasons for doing 
so. 


The Development of Some 
Queensland Fish. 


Author. 


W. E. Roth, M.R.C.S., 
B.A., Oxon. 


Hon. A. Norton, M.L.C. 


Professor E. M. Crook- 
shank, M.B., Lond. 


Hon. A. Norton, M.L.C. 


T. P. Lucas, M.R.C.S. 
P. Olsson-Seffer, Ph. D. 
W. W. RB. Love, M.B. 


J. Brownlie Henderson, 
IDEM Cy JA Cask 


Hon. A. Norton, M.L.C. 


J. R. Tosh. 


ATTENDANCE oF OFFICERS AT THE TWELVE CoUNCIL 
MEETINGS HELD DuRING 1902. 


Office. Name. heey 
President .. John Thomson, M.B. .. 9 
Vice-President | W. W. R. Love, M.B. .. 2 
Hon. Treasurer | Hon. A. Norton, M.L.C. Hat 
Hon. Secretary J. F. Bailey : 12 
Hon. Librarian Ki. lilidge 9 

A. G. Jackson 5 
C. J. Pound 6 
MembersofCouncil. J. Shirley, B. Sc. U 
J. W. Sutton .. 2 
F. Whitteron.. 8 


REPORT OF COUNOIL, 


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REPORT OF CONNCIL. Xxili 


The adoption of the Report was moved by Mr. R. Gailey, 
seconded by Mr. R. C. Mackie, and carried. 

The election of Officers for the yorr 1908 resulted as 
follows :—President, W. W. R. Love, M.B.; Vice-President, 
John Cameron, M.L.A.; Hon. Treasurer, Hon. A. Norton, 
M.L.C.; Hon. Secretary, J. F. Bailey; Hon. Librarian, R. 
Illidge; Members of Council, W. J. Byram, A. G. Jackson, C. J. 
Pound, J. Shirley, B.Sc., and John Thomson, M B.; Hon. 
Auditor, A. J. Turner, F.I.A.V. 

The retiring President (Dr. John Thomson) announced that 
he would deliver his Presidential Address at a subsequent 
meeting. 

Mr. R. Iilidge then read a paper, which he, in conjunction 
with Mr. Ambrose Quail, had prepared on Australian Wood- 
boring Cossidae. 


=, 
pth ane Uy a 
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P i ‘ a) 

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/ 1 

Vite 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF THE 


ROYAL SOCIETY 


OF 


0 ee IN 1A IND: 


VOLUME XVII. PART I. 
WITH 4 PLATES. 


The Authors alone are responsible tor the opinions expressed in their papers. 
yl i} I pay 


PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY 
BY 
H. POLE & CO., PRINTERS, ELIZABETH STREET, BRISBANE. 


1902. 


THE 


Ronal Society of Queensland. 


Patron: 


HIS EXCELLENCY MAJOR-GENERAL SIR HERBERT 
C. CHERMSIDE, G.C.M.G., C.B. 


OFFICERS, 1902- 


President : 
Dr. JOHN THOMSON. 


Vice-President : 
Dr. W. W. R. LOVE. 


Hon. Treasurer : 
How. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 


Hon. Secretary : 
J. F. BAILEY. 


Hon. Librarian: 
ROWLAND ILLIDGE. 


Members of Council: 
A. G. JACKSON. J. SHIRLEY, B.Sc. 
Cc. J. POUND, F.R.M.S. J. W. SUTTON. 
F. WHITTERON. 


Trustees: 
JOHN CAMERON, M.L.A. Hox. A. C. GREGORY, C.M.G., M.L.C. 
Hox. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 


Hon. Auditor: 
A. J. TURNER. 


CONTENTS: 


CoLLEpDGE, W. R.— 
Notes on a Species of Sandfly 


Martin, Sipney G.— 
The Principal Causes of Mortality in Queensland 


Presidential Address oc 
Proceedings of Annual Meeting Se Sc 
Report of Council for 1901 


Page. 


THE PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF MORTALITY IN 
QUEENSLAND. 


By SIDNEY G. MARTIN, A.1.A. (Lond). 


(Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 13th April, 1901), 


Wuen making this investigation into the various causes of 
mortality in Queensland, I at first intended to take the whole 
40 years since separation. I found, however, that the figures 
in the earlier years were too small, and the causes of death in 
some cases too vague to lend themselves to useful and reliable 
results, consequently I have restricted the investigation to the 
twenty-five years 1875/99, dividing this term into five periods of 
five years each. 

The value of comparative mortality statistics is often much 
impaired by reason of the diverse conditions that effect various 
populations. Death rates, arrived at simply on the basis of total 
deaths to total population, can be safely compared only when 
the number alive at the various ages are,in the same ratio, 
when the sexes are in the same proportion, and when there is 
no considerable alien population subject to a different rate of 
mortality to disturb the result. When these conditions exist 
and are not allowed for, results which are more or less 
misleading are brought out. 

In Queensland more than in most countries has allowance 
to be made for peculiar conditions. The increase of the male 
population in this State owes more to immigration in comparison 
with the natural increase than any other Australian State, 
except Western Australia. The result of this is that the 
number of males in the prime of life is greater than it 
otherwise would be and far exceeds the number of females; 
thus at the last census in 1891 while the male population under 
20 differed very little from the female in that group, 
the males over 20 numbered 131,000, as. compared with 
80,000 females. 


2 PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF MORTALITY IN QUEENSLAND 


As an example of the errors and exaggerations that creep 
in through these disturbing elements not being allowed for we 
may consider the year 1884. In this year there was a heavy 
mortality amongst the Pacific Island population, and the 
returns over the whole population showed the death rate per 
1000 living as 22-3, while, the Polynesians being left out from 
both living and dying, we get 17-2 as the death rate for the 
year. And in regard to the particular disease phthisis to which 
the islanders are specially prone, the ratios work out for that 
year as 19 per 10,000 living, with the Polynesians included, 
and only 10 per 10,000 with them excluded, a difference of 
nearly 100 per cent. Further, as showing the possible error 
when age and sex are not allowed for, the Queensland total male 
ratios in deaths from cancer are for 1899 greater than for 
females, viz. :—5'3 as against 4:1 per 10,000 living ; while, 
due regard being had for the greater proportion of males in the 
cancer ages the correct result of a higher death rate for 
females is arrived at, as will appear later on. The comparative 
mortality of a country is becoming of more practical importance 
as the best energies of our governments are being given to the 
prevention of disease. Not so very many years ago preventive 
medicine was scarcely heard of, now it appears to be a special 
branch of medical practice. So many diseases are now 
recognised under the heading of bacterial, and bacterial 
necessarily implies more or less preventible, that there is no 
lack of work for this branch of medicine. By observing the 
progress of the various diseases over a term of years we can see 
what success has been met with, and learn by the results of the 
past what, if any, modifications are necessary as regards future 
operations. 

My authorities for the figures given in this paper are, as 
regards the general mortality, the very complete reports issued by 
the Registrars-General for England and Queensland. As 
regards the causes of death of Polynesians, they are given 
separately by our Registrar-General for phthisis and other 
tubercular diseases, the other causes of death I obtained from 
the records of the Immigration Office. 

For the purpose of working out the ratios, I took the living 
to be the mean of those alive at the beginning and end of each 
quinquennium, which, though not absolutely exact, it is usual to 
take in comparisons of this nature, and the numbers alive at 
each age are proportional to the figures shown at the nearest 
census. I have had to modify this arrangement in comparisons 


BY SIDNEY G. MARTIN, A.I.A. (LONDON). 3 


involving the ages of infancy in the figures for the last quin- 
quennium, on account of the falling off in the birth rate, which 
will have the effect of bringing the number under five in that 
quinquennium no higher than in the one previous, though the 
total population shows considerable increase. For older ages 
the comparisons are not sensibly affected, and I have not altered 
the figures. The death rate put against each quinquennium is 
the annual rate, and is simply one fifth of that experienced 
through the whole five years. 


In arriving at the ratios, deaths to persons living, I have 
taken the numbers living at those ages at which the disease in 
the great majority of cases begins to be fatal, such as 15 for 
phthisis, 35 for cancer, &c., but the deaths from those diseases 
are the total deaths at all ages, including those few which occur 
before those ages. I have preferred not to alter the figures more 
than necessary, as to know the numbers of deaths as well as the 
ratios is useful ; and as in no case does the number of deaths 
outside the included ages amount to one-tenth of those inside, 
the ratios are not materially affected, and for purposes of com- 
parison one year with another the results are not affected at all. 


Inrant Morvatiry. 

The infant mortality is said to be generally accepted. as the 
most sensitive test of the health of a given population, and 
judged by this standard, Queensland stands well. The infant 
mortality is found by comparing the total deaths under age 1 
with the births of the year, and on this basis the average per 
thousand for the past 25 years is as follows :— 

1875/79, 145 ; 1880/84, 127; 1885/89, 129 ; 1890/94, 104; 
1895/99, 102. 

The rate for all England in 1898 was 160, higher than 
ours has ever been. There are only four counties in England 
that show a better rate than our present one ; three with 99, 
and one with 101 per 1,000. Our rate for {1899—109, though 
higher than the average for the previous five years, was the 
lowest in Australia, South Australia being next with 111. 

If we take the mortality for the first five years of life we get 
results as follows :— 


Total deaths Ratio to 10,000 
under five. living. 
1875/79 Me 8,217 ae 58°6 
1880/84 te 8,806 ss 48:0 
1885/89 s¢ 11,851 aie 46°8 
1890/94 or 10,926 ot 34:4 


1895/99 55 10,169 O6 32°2 


4 PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF MORTALITY IN QUEENSLAND 


Thus the deaths during the last quinquennium were not 
only far fewer in proportion, but actually fewer numerically than 
were recorded 10 years ago though the population under 5 
increased one fourth in that period. Now that Queensland, in 
common with all other European nationalities is suffering from 
a reduced birth rate, it is some consolation that the children who 
are born have a better chance of growing to maturity. The 
improvement during the 25 years has been very consider- 
able, and the rate during the last 10 years is better than 
can be shown in any part of England. The English rate 55:8 
is about equal tu ours of 25 years ago, and no part of England 
can now show so low a death rate over the first five years of life 
as does Queensland. The lowest county rate is a little under 34 
per 1,000 as compared with our 32:2. 

It is not possible to gather anything but the most general 
idea as to those causes of death in childhood that have 
contributed most to the general reduction, as the classification 
has been so completely altered during the 25 years. At the 
beginning of this term one-fourth of the deaths were said to 
have been due to debility or atrophy (wasting away), now only 
2 per cent. are so classified, deaths from diseases of the 
digestive system were then only 3 per cent., now they 
contribute 20 per cent. Deaths from diarrhoeal and respiratory 
diseases show a most pronounced improvement, the former 
especially, the rate having been reduced by more than 
one-half within the last 10 years, viz.:—From 8:5 per 1000 
in 85/89 to 4 per 1000 in 95/99. 

PuHrTuisis. 

Of all fatal diseases to which the European race is subject 
that of phthisis has for a long time, and possibly for centuries, 
taken the place at the head of the list. That it has remained 
so to the present may be regarded as due, to a very large extent, 
to the fact that, through ignorance as to the nature of the 
disease, no check has been placed upon its spreading until quite 
recent times. Not regarded as a communicable disease, no 
attention was given to the danger of infection from persons 
suffering from consumption. Since the discovery of the tubercle 
bacillus, and the consequent more enlightened treatment of 
consuimptives as persons bearing infection, we may expect to 
find an improvement in pbhthisis statistics, and we do not look 
in vain. ; 

The figures given below showing annual death rate from 
phthisis must not be compared with other statistics of this 


BY SIDNEY G. MARTIN, A.I.A. (LONDON). 3) 


nature, for these, so far as 1 have seen them, have given the 
ratios of deaths to the whole population, while I have worked 
out my ratios on the basis of the population at consumptive 
ages, viz. :—15 years to the end of life. As the deaths amongst 
Polynesians from this disease have been given separately by the 
Registrar-General only since 1877, I have worked out results 
for four quinqnennia only, so that I might leave that race 
completely out of both deaths and population. The numbers 
and ratios refer therefore exclusively to Huropeans and the 
Asiatic races which, unlike the Polynesians, show a mortality 
little differing from that of the Kuropeans. The figures are as 
follows for males and females respectively :— 


MALES. FEMALES. 
Total deaths Annual Ratio Total deaths Annual Ratio 
from phthisis — to 10,000 living from phthisis to 10,000 living 
excluding above age 15. excluding above age 15. 
Polynesians. Polynesians. 
1880/84 754 15°8 398 14:8 
1885/89 1019 16:0 545 13°2 
1890/94 1120 15:2 562 10°8 
1895/99 1103 12:8 584 9°6 


It will be noticed that there is:a marked difference in the 
movements as between the males and the females; while the 
latter show a continued reduction, and are now one-third less 
than they were in the first quinquennium under notice, the 
male rate was almost constant for the first three periods, and 
during the last period showed a reduction of less than a fifth as 
compared with 1880/84. This difference seems to me to be 
not without some significance, especially when taken in 
conjunction with a similar condition found in the English 
comparison, for whereas the mortality from this disease was 
practically the same for both sexes in the decennium 1861/70, 
viz. :—24-7 and 24°8 per 10,000 living at all ages for males and 
females respectively, the rate was reduced 20 years after to 18°5 
for males and 16:1 for females, the reductions being 25 per 
cent. for the former as against 35 per cent. for the latter. The 
more recent figures for the year 1898 make the reductions 
39 per cent. and 64 per cent. respectively. Au investigation 
that was made some years ago into the records of the Brompton 
Hospital for chest complaints showed that while male 
consumption was more common than female as regards the 
London district, the cases where there was a family predisposition 
to the disease showed a greater ratio amongst females. This 
was accounted for by the more sedentary and less invigorating 
life of the females, and to this I should add that in view of the 


6 PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF MORTALITY IN QUEENSLAND 


fact that the attendance on those of the family who are 
suffering from the disease falls to the females, they would be 
less likely to escape the infection than the males who spend @ 
much greater part of their time away from home. As the 
Queensland rates have been probably effected to a certain 
extent by the presence of a number of persons who came here 
with the hope of deriving benefit from the climate, it would not 
be safe to draw deductions from these alone, but as they are 
supported by the English figures I think that they may be 
depended on. From these considerations I should gather 
that while the efforts made to reduce the spread of 
consumption amongst the population generally have been 
largely successful, they have been materially assisted by wise 
attention to the danger of direct infection amongst members of 
the family circle. I think these figures may also bear the 
inference that a good deal of consumption set.down as due to 
heredity, may rather be ascribed to infection. The English 
annual rate per 10,000 living in the year 1898, taking the 
population over age 15, was 24 for males and 17 for females, a 
much higher rate than Queensland has ever known. 
CaANcER. 

While the outlook as regards phthisis is decidedly hopeful, 
the reverse is the case in regard to cancer. The former disease 
is still responsible for more deaths than cancer or any other 
disease, but as cancer is rapidly increasing, while phthisis is 
Giminishing, the present relative positions may not long continue. 
In 15 years the proportion of deaths from cancer to phthisis has 
increased in Queensland from 30 per cent. to 60 per cent. ; 
indeed, at the present time in this State cancer causes more 
death after it once comes into evidence at about age 35 than 
does phthisis after that age. In England, owing to the large 
number of deaths from phthisis, that disease still causes more 
deaths than cancer even after 35, though the difference is 
gradually becoming smaller. 

The ratios for Queensland are as follows :— 


MALES. FEMALES. 

Annual Ratio per Annual Ratio per 

10,000 living over 10,000 living over 
Total Deaths. age 35. Total Deaths. age 35 
1875/79 114 66 95 12°6 
1880/84 175 8-0 158 14°8 
1885/89 263 9-6 181 12-4 
1890/94 378 J1:8 281 15°6 
1895/99 612 16°6 419 20-1 


The considerable difference in the rates of increase in males 
and females is very marked, and is a common feature in all 


BY SIDNEY G. MARTIN, A.I.A. (LONDON). 7 


cancer statistics. The EHnglish rates are higher in both sexes 
than ours, on account of the larger proportions of persons 
living at the higher ages. Taking the proportions of persons 
living at the different ages as they exist in Queensland, the 
deaths in England from cancer would, in 1898, have been 15:5 
for males, and 24:7 for females, per 10,000 living over age 35. 
Twenty years ago female cancer was in England double the 
rate for male, as in the Queensland experience ; during that 
term the increase in female cancer has just kept pace with our 
own, but the rate of increase in male cancer has been less 
than ours. 

There has been considerable controvesy as to whether the 
increase in cancer is real or only apparent. The advocates of 
the latter view include Mr. George King, one of the foremost of 
British actuaries, who, with Dr. A. Newsholm, reported in a 
paper read before the Royal Society of London, 1893, as the 
result of an investigation into this matter that the increase in 
deaths from cancer was due to improvement in diagnosis, and a 
more careful certification of the cause of death, and gave 
statistics to show that the whole of the increase has taken place 
in inaccessible cases of cancer, in which, from their position, 
exact diagnosis is difficult, while accessible cancer easily 
diagnosed has remained practically stationary. For those who 
contend that the increase is real, and not merely apparent, I 
quote from a paper read before this Society by Dr. Hirschfeld 
in 1898, he said: ‘‘ We are therefore forced to the conclusion 
that the rapidly and greatly increasing prevalence of cancer in 
the Australian colonies cannot be accounted for by an increase 
out of proportion of that part of the population which is most 
liable to malignant tumours (aged persons), nor by greater 
accuracy of diagnosis, even by a certain small natural increase 
in consequence of hereditary transmission, that on the contrary 
_ the improved diagnosis of the earlier stages, together with the 
advancement of surgical treatment, should warrant a diminution 
instead of an augmentation of the cases of death caused by 
cancer.” 

For the other side I quote from the concluding remarks of 
the paper by Mr. King and Dr. Newsholme : 

‘1. Males and females suffer equally from cancer in these 
parts of the body common to men and women, the greater 
prevalence of cancer among females being due entirely to cancer 
of the sexual organs, This is shown by the Frankfort statistics, 
and may not unreasonably be accepted as a general law, seeing 


8 PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF MORTALITY IN QUEENSLAND 


that in other respects, where comparison is possible, the Frank- 
fort statistics are confirmed by those of the United Kingdom. 

‘¢2. The apparent increase in cancer is confined to what we 
have called ‘ inaccessible cancer.’ This is shown (a) by the 
Frankfort statistics (6) by the fact that the difference between 
the rates for males and females respectively is approximately 
constant, and does not progressively increase in cancer in each 
of the sexes ; (c) because the apparent increase in cancer among 
the well-to-do assured lives, who are presumably attended by 
medical men of more than average skill, is not so great as 
among the general population. (This remark is based on the 
different experiences of the Scottish Widows’ Life Assurance 
Society and the general population of the United Kingdom.) 

‘© 3, The increase in cancer is only apparent and not real, 
and is due to improvement in diagnosis, and more careful 
certification of the causes of death. This is shown by the fact 
that the whole of the increase has taken place in inaccessible 
cancer difficult of diagnosis, while accessible cancer easily 
diagnosed has remained practically stationary.” 

In 1892 our own Registrar-General commenced to tabulate 
deaths from cancer un‘ier their various heads, and I compare 
below the figures for the years 1892/93 with those for the years 
1898/99, dividing them as Mr. King and Dr. Newsholme did 
into accessible and inaccessible cancer. (Of cases that could not 
be classified there were 19 in the earlier period and 26 in the 


later.) 
AccESSIBLE CANCER. 


1892/93. 1898/99. 
Males. Females. Males. Females. 
Uterns a 28 sh 57 
Breast an 13 —_ 26 
Neck & face 12 3 ae 22 £ 
Mouth & Throat 44 5 ae 66 2 
56 49 22 84 
Total - - 105 Total! =" 74! 


Increase 66 % 
INACCESSIBLE CANCER. 


1892/93. 1898/99. 
Males. Females. Males. Females. 
Stomach ae Sit 17 ae 112 34 
Intestines “ip 14 7 se 23 12 
Bladder & Kidneys 3 1 = 9 8 
Lungs = 2 1 - 5 6 
Liver re 14 11 4: 39 24 
90 37 188 84 
Total - 127 Total - 272 


Increase 114% 


BY SIDNEY G. MARTIN, A.I.A. (LONDON). 3 


The increase in the population was only 22 per cent., so 
that in both cases the increase in cancer largely exceeded it, 
though certainly by a great deal more in inaccessible cancer. 


These figures lead us to conclusions widely differing from 
Mr. King’s and Dr. Newsholme’s for, in the first place, males and 
females in Queensland suffer very unequally from cancer in 
those parts of the body common to man and woman. Allowing 
for the difference in the number of the sexes, the proportion in 
Queensland is as 45 for males to 26 for females in the years 
1898/99. Also the Frankfort statistics, which alone furnished 
information as to the various parts of the body affected, show an 
even rate for cancer in males over 30 years, while in that time 
our rate has more than doubled, There seems no other con- 
clusion possible, at least, so far as Queensland is concerned, but 
that cancer is increasing to a serious extent. I may add that 
the deaths from cancer in the stomach are exceedingly heavy in 
Queensland, especially amongst males, the percentage of deaths 
from cancer in the stomach to total deaths from cancer is 32 in 
Queensland and only 16 in England. 


Diseases oF Urinary System. 

Another disease causing an increasing number of deaths is 
that of the kidneys, classified under two heads, Bright’s disease 
and nephritis. Kidney disease accounts for the great majority 
of deaths included under the heading, diseases of the urinary 
system, and I have extracted the figures for the whole class. 


MALES. FEMALES. 

Annual ratio Annual ratio 
Total per Total per 

deaths. 10,000 living deaths. 10,000 living 

over age 15. over age 15, 
tei?) .. . 131 3°5 29 1-4 
1880/84... 204 4:0 54 2°0 
T885/89 .. 354 §°2 122 29 
1890/94... 449 a7 166 oe 
HSSa/990 1... 619 6:8 308 5.2 


The English rates for the year 1898 are for males and 
females respectively 5:2 and 38:9 on the basis of a population 
aged as in Queensland, which are lower than were our rates 
during that year. Almost the same rate of increase was shown 
in the English statistics over a period of 20 years from 1870 to 
1890 as in Queensland, with a similar accelerated increase in the 
female section. 

TypHor FEvER. 

There has been a very great diminution during the past ten 

years in the deaths from this cause, which was at one time 


10 PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF MORTALITY IN QUEENSLAND 


responsible for more deaths per annum than any other. The 
ratios are as follows :— 


Total deaths Annual ratio per 10,000 
male and female. living over age 5. 
1875/79 b's bial: 78 
1880/84 Ar, 1048 9°6 
1885/89 Po 1083 74 
1890/94 by 544 3-0 
1895/99 5. 683 34 


We are still considerably in excess of the English rate, 
which for 12 years past has kept steadily at about 2-2 per 10,000. 


MarariaL Fever. 

Considering that one-third of our population lives within 
the tropics, it might have been expected that malarial diseases 
would be an important factor in our death rate, this indeed was 
the case 20 years ago, and malarial fever was responsible 
for as many deaths as consumption, though the proportion of 
population within the tropics was much less than it is now. 
The number of deaths as well as the ratios have gradually 
decreased, however, during the 20 years until the deaths from 
this are almost the fewest aimoug the principal causes of death. 


MALEs. 
Annual ratio per 10,000 
Total deaths. living over age 20. 
1875/79 a. 547 16-2 
1880/84 = 340 7-4 
1885/89 aie 166 2°8 
1890/94 re 196 2-8 
1895/99 Ac 138 1-8 


Liver Disease. 

For the same climatic reason it would have been expected 
that liver complaint would be responsible for « large proportion of 
deaths. The deaths from this cause are, however, amongst the 
fewest, and have been fairly regular throughout the term, with 
a& suggestive increase during the years when money was 
plentiful. 


MALEs. 
Annual ratio per 10,000 
Total deaths. living over age 20. 
1875/79 - 96 2-8 
1880/84 sis 137 3-0 
1885/89 oe 311 52 
1890/94 §} 260 4-0 
1895/99 * 245 3-1 


ALCOHOLISM. 
The deaths from this cause are a good deal higher than in 
England, and showed the same increase that liver complaint 
did before the years of depression brought about an enforced 


BY SIDNEY G. MARTIN, A.I.A. (LONDON). ie 


economy in method of living. The death rate during the past 
quinquennium is the smallest and is only one-half that 
experienced in the period 1885/90. 


MALEs. 
Annual ratio per 10,000 
Total deaths. living over age 20. 
1875/79 iy 98 2-9 
1880/84 o 164 3°6 
1885/89 ¥ 282 4°7 
1890/94 at 189 2-8 
1895/99 ne 189 2°4 
ACCIDENTS. 


Accidental deaths always have appeared and still do appear 
amongst the largest contributors to our total death rate. The 
figures run as follows :— 


Annual ratio to Annual ratio to 
MALEs. 10,000 FEMALES. H 
Total deaths. living at all ages. Total deaths. living at all ages. 
1875/79 1375 25:0 287 76 
1880/84 1658 21.8 332 76 
1885/89 2194 22.0 611 8-4 
1890/94 2419 20.6 608 6:4 
1895/99 2249 16.0 582 5.6 


I have excluded from the last quinquennium the 250 
victims (chiefly Asiatics) of the disaster to the pearl fishers 
in 1899. 

A comparison of the various classes of accidental deaths 
shows that the improvement has been in regard to those 
accidents which are of the more preventible class, such as 
burns, scalds, and drowning, which are only one half the rate of 
20 years ago, while those accidents which can less be guarded 
against, such as horse, railway and mining accidents, falls, and 
falling trees, show almost exactly the same rates. The rate of 
death from accident among children is only one-third the rate of 
20 years back. Amongst adults the cause responsible for the 
greatest number is that of drowning, which has accounted for 
an average of 109 per annum during the past three years, but 
20 years ago on the same basis of population the number would 
have been 200. Horse accidents account for an average per 
annum of 89, practically the same rate as that of 1877/79. 
The deaths resulting from accidents in mining average 16 per 
annum. 

SuIciDE. 

The deaths from suicide are third on the list of deaths from 
violence, with an average of 80 per annum during the past three 
years. ‘The rate has been practically stationary during the past 
25 years, as the figures show :— 


12 PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF MORTALITY IN QUEENSLAND 


MALEs. 
Annual ratio to 10,060 
Total deaths. living above age 15. 
1875/79 ar 127 3°8 
1880/84 ie 147 3-2 
1885/89 Ke 223 3°6 
1890/94 + 284 41 
1895/99 - 326 4-1 


This rate is higher than the English rate, which is only 2°6 
per annum per 10,000 living over age 20. Twenty years ago 
the English rate was 2°2, thus showing a slight increase. 

Respiratory AND DrarrHoraL DisEaseEs. 

It is not possible to trace the history of these two classes 
of disease on account of the records being swelled by the 
deaths of large numbers of Polynesians, which, except in the 
more recent years, cannot be eliminated. Comparing the 
Queensland ratios (exclusive of Polynesians) with the English, 
we have the following figures for the years 1897/98 :— 


Annual ratio per 10,000 males 
living over age 15. 


Queensland. England. 
Respiratory diseases “ 15:0 26°5 
Diarrhoeal diseases ae 587, 1-2 
GENERAL. 


A table of comparison showing at a glance the ratios of 
deaths occurring from all the most important causes in Queens- 
land and in England is interesting. The latest reports available 
from England are for the years 1897 and 1898, and I have taken 
out results for the same years from the Queensland experience. In 
order that the result may yield a fair comparison, I have divided 
the deaths into three groups—from ages 15 to age 45, from 45 to 
65, and from 65 upwards ; this grouping yielding in England as 
nearly as possible equal numbers of deaths. The deaths in each 
group in the Queensland experience I have proportioned to the 
ratios shown in the English statistics, so that the Queensland 
ratios are not those of actual experience, but as they would be if 
the age distribution of the population were of a more normal 
character. ‘To these I have appended results derived from the 
Mortality experience of the Mutual Life Insurance Company of 
New York, for the years 1894 98, dealing with their figures in the 
same way. In this case though, from the way in which the figures 
are presented, I have had to take the dividing age between the 
second and third groups at 60 instead of 65, but the general 
result will not be appreciably affected. This Company’s business 
is now world-wide; but, as far as the deaths are concerned, 
over 90 per cent. are recorded as having occurred in the United 


BY SIDNEY G. MARTIN, A.I.A. (LONDON). 13. 


States of America, so that this experience may be considered as 
fairly representing that of the better class in that country, such 
as would be found on the books of an ordinary life assurance 
company. I have eliminated the deaths of Polynesians from 
the Queensland experience, so that this comprises only the 
Kuropean population, and the Asiatic, which, as before stated, 
has much the same rate of mortality. 


Percentage which the several causes of death bear to the 
total deaths for the years 1897/98. Over age 15—males :— 


Mates. Queensland. England. United States. 
Influenza oc 3°7 2:2 11 
Typhoid fever es oe 1:4 4-0) 
Malarial fever sh 1:0 1-4 
Diarrhoea diseases Se 2°6 8 2:0 
Alcholism ys heii, o "3: 
Cancer ak 6:3 671 4:9 
Phthisis os 8:5 13°8 10:2 
Tubercular diseases other 

than phthisis Ss 8 1:2 “4 
Diabetes he “4 ‘9 1:3 
Diseases of Nervous sys- 

tem aie 9-4 12:0 16°7 
Diseases of Circulatory 

system a5 13-4 14:8 14:2 
Bronchitis a 3-6 78 1-2 
Pneumonia ae 55 6:2 81 
Other diseases of respira- 

tory system 50 2°6 2°2 1:4 
Diseases of liver xe 1:5 271 1:8 
Other diseases of digestive 

system Ai 4:4 34 6:0 
Brights Disease sus 31 2°7) 7:4 
Nephritis at 5 6s 
Other diseases of urinary 

system AG 2:2 IES 2°7 
Accident a3 10:7 5:3 56 
Suicide Be 2°6 1-4 2:7 
Old Age oe 35 76 2:0 
Other causes ra 8:9 4:7 46 

100-0 100-0 100-0 
One noticeable feature of the comparison is the high rates 
in Kneland due to chest complaints, viz. :—30 per cent. of the 


whole, as against 20-2 in Queensland and 20:9 in the United 
States. Nervous diseases find the United States a good deal in 
advance with 16:7, England next with 12 per cent., and 
Queensland last with 9:4. Of digestive diseases the United 
States are again highest with 7°38; England and Queensland 
having 5°5 and 5-9 respectively. In the violence classes 


14 PRINCIPAL CAUSES OF MORTALITY IN QUEENSLAND 


Queensland is much the highest with 13°3, as against only 6°7 
and 8:3 for England and the United States respectively. The 
United States are highest with urinary diseases, 10-1; 
Queensland and England being 5:8 and 5:2. Im cancer the 
United States are lowest with 4:9, the other two being nearly 
equal with a little over 6 per cent. The larger number set 
down to old age in England may be accounted for by the fact 
that there will be a larger proportion of extremely old people in 
that experience as compared with the other two. The com- 
parison in regard to certain diseases shows the effect that mode 
of life, apart from climate, may have in some respects. From 
what we know, or imagine, of our ‘‘go-ahead’’ American cousins, 
we should rather expect that their causes of death would not 
run on parallel lines with our own, and we find that in diseases 
relating to the brain and the digestion they are far ahead. 
Adding together diseases of the digestive, nervous (including 
suicide), and urinary systems, we get 24-1 for Queensland, 25-0 
for England, and 38°6 for the United States. 
KANAKAS. 

As there has been a certain amount of discussion recently 
concerning the mortality of the Polynesians in Queensland, 
I have taken out the experience during the past 25 years. 


Total deaths. Ratio per 1000 living. 
1875/79 “fA 1708 74 
1880/84 + 4064 102 
1885/89 & 3207 75 
1890/94 45 2126 51 
1895/99 ai 1461 36 


The ratios of the second and third periods were swelled by 
the inclusion of the figures for 1884 and 1885, when, owing to 
a serious epidemic of dysentery, followed by an outbreak of 
pneumonia, the death rates ran up to 164 and 110 per 1000 
respectively. Excluding these years, and taking the experience 
for four years only in each of these two periods, the ratios will 
run 74, 60, 49, 51, and 36. The lowest rate of 36 per 1000 is 
still excessive, seeing that the rate for the European population 
of the ages of the Kanakas, 15 to 45, is not more than 8 per 
1000. One-half the deaths amongst the islanders are due to 
tubercular diseases, and of the other half pneumonia and 
dysentery are responsible for the greater part. 


ConcLusIon. 
Although the only perfect comparison of mortality is that 
based on exact ages of living and dying, still, what has been 


BY SIDNEY G. MARTIN, A.I.A. (LONDON). 15 


submitted in this paper furnishes evidence that the mortality of 
Queensland is favourable as compared with England; and we 
have seen that the general movement in regard to the more 
important disease, is one of reduction. How the European race 
will fare, as regards the attainment of extreme old age, will take 
many years to show ; this State is still so young, and the settle- 
ment, in the North especially, of such comparatively recent date, 
that we have not the facts yet for ascertaining what effect the 
heat of North Queensland will have on the longevity of Kuro- 
peans. All that we can conclude at present is, that the indica- 
tions are favourable as to the general healthiness of the country, 
and as it becomes more settled, while sanitation and other 
matters pertaining to the health of the people receive more 
attention, it does not seem an extravagant expectation that 
Queensland may become the sanatorium of Australia. We have 
within our 18 degrees of latitude great diversities of climate, 
ranging from the humid heat of the North to the dry summer 
weather with cool nights experienced in the Downs country, 
and we have the choice of the mild winter on the northern coast 
or of the bracing weather of the elevated lands towards the west, 
for so great is the elevation that even well within the tropics are 
hard frosts experienced throughout the winters on the higher 
table lands there. 

I would conclude my paper by expressing the hope that as 
medical knowledge advances and municipal practice improves, 
and as the residents learn to adapt their mode of life more to 
the exigencies of the climate, some future writer may be able to 
record the fact that the principal cause of mortality in 
Queensland is old age. 


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NOTES ON A SPECIES OF SANDFLY. 
By W. R. COLLEDGE. 
[Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, November 16, 1901.] 


Tue sandfly is a popular term, which includes members of 
different species of Diptera. 


The subject of the present paper is found in Brisbane, and 
seems to be related to a species named ‘“ Ceratopogon Albo- 
punctus.” These insects are exceedingly troublesome both to 
man and animals. Being so minute, the ordinary mosquito 
netting is no barrier to its progress. A hole of a fiftieth of an 
inch in diameter is only a narrow way leading to her heaven if 
she is hungry and you are inside. Unlike her compeer, the 
mosquito, she gives no warning of her approach, but does hey 
spiriting gently, and knows intuitively where the most tender 
parts of your anatomy lie. 

Like all insects, it is naturally divided into three parts, viz., 
the head, chest, and abdomen. ‘The head resembles a partially 
compressed globe, the compound eyes occupying nearly the 
whole of the sides and frontal space, leaving a central aperture, 
through which the mouth organs project. The cells of the eye 
do not assume the honeycomb shape of the common house fly, 
but each is separated from its neighbour by a firm chitinous 
frame, so that, though there are hundreds of these cells massed 
together, yet each preserves its circular form. 


A pair of beautiful antenne spring from the sides of the 
frontal space. These consist of fourteen joints, varying in 
shape according to their position. The basal one is much 


enlarged, globular and slightly elongated ; to this are articulated 
B 


18 NOTES ON A SPECIES OF SANDFLY 


a number of joints resembling pitchers, the base of each being 
rounded, with a contracted neck, bearing on the lower part a 
circlet of long curved hairs, projecting outwards. Each hair is 
inserted into a socket, which, when the hair falls, appears as a 
white cup-like depression. The first eight of these urn-shaped 
joints resemble each other, but the last five differ, gradually 
elongating and growing narrower. The terminal one is like a 
minie rifle bullet. From the point projects a delicate cone, 
evidently a sense organ, probably a taste bud. 

Between the antenne, but a little lower are the palpi, 
a pair of organs consisting of four differently shaped joints, the 
second peculiarly so, resembling a shoulder of mutton in minia- 
ture, and on the fleshy part is a circular pit. In this are a 
number of truncated cones, bearing little nucleated globes on 
their ends. I have not seen anything like them delineated any- 
where ; and it appears to me to be a delicate sensory apparatus, 
for communicating sound waves, inaudible to the human ear. 

Between the palpi there springs the proboscis. It lies in 
the median line. Externally it consists of a fleshy sheath, 
terminating in two thick lips or flabella. They are slit on the 
underside, and by certain muscles can be drawn back so as to 
expose the lancets contained within. 

Like its sanquinary friend, the mosquito, it possesses an 
armoury of six distinct lancets, but they are much thicker and 
stronger comparatively. In use, the whole are combined 
together, forming a stout weapon of offence, not unlike a broad- 
sword. These lancets are paired, so that there are three groups, 
of like nature. The two outermost are the maxillary lancets ; 
these are attached to the facial plate which carries the palpi. In 
dissection, the two generally come away together. These are 
distinguished by their concave scythe-like blades, shaped so as 
to fit over and clasp the inner lancets. From the point to a 
space half-way down the organ is a row of large teeth, set like a 
ripping saw, to enlarge the cut when they are withdrawn. Next 
are the mandibles, much resembling a couple of carving knives. 
One edge is thin, the other stouter. The end being broadly 
lanceolate, one angle being tipped with small regular teeth, like 
a tenon or surgeon’s saw. These are easily recognised by having 
a longitudinal slit, such as is made in the blade of a pocket 
knife, for ease of opening. 

Still going inwards, the two central lancets of the group 
are found. These are like a tube with a rounded end, split 
longitudinally, and placed so as to form a hollow chamber. The 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE. 19 


tips are indented deeply, making straight marginal teeth. A 
fine tube appears to run down the centre to the point. This is 
probably the channel by which the poison is injected into the 
wound. These central lancets are prolonged into the mouth, 
widening into a trumpet-like chamber, which receives the end 
of the tube connected with the stomach. They are likewise 
attached laterally by two horny projections to muscles in the 
head, which seem capable of thrusting these lancets deeper, or 
withdrawing them from the wound. From the oral surface, 
the lancets measure one hundredth of an inch in length. 


There is a probability that only the female sandfly attacks 
man. I have never founda maleinsect upon me. At the Tweed 
River one afternoon I caught about fifty on my hands, but there 
was not one male among them. EHvery specimen was of the 
feminine gender. So that what is broadly true of the mosquito 
—that only females attack man—seems to hold good with this 
little insect too. 


The thorax is dark brown, almost bare on the dorsal aspect, 
with scattered golden hairs on the sides. The parts are welded 
together so that it forms a concave shield extending from the 
neck to the abdomen, with a well defined border alone the 
sides. In shape it is not unlike the shell of a tortoise. On the 
part near the head are two angular apertures for the admission 
of air—the prothoracic spiracles. 


Below the lateral border arise the wings, they are oval, the 
posterior border being abruptly rounded below the axilla, and 
densely covered with black hairs. No marginal cross vein is 
visible, and the only transverse one is in the axilla, where 
passing above the curve formed by the junction of the roots of 
the third and fifth longitudinals, it unites the first to the sixth. 


The first longitudinal arises from the root of and on a level 
with the costal. Curving downwards, it runs parallel, and then 
unites with the costal at a point a little on its side of centre of 
the wing, Both these veins are very much thickened. A second 
longitudinal proceeds parallel from the middle of the axillary 
joint to a point two-thirds of the length of the first, where it 
turns np abruptly to coalese with it, forming a thickened rib 
which terminates in a club-like form on the costal border. 
Immediately beyond this is a marginal pale U-shaped spot where 
the hairs are thinly scattered. This is most distinctly visible 
when examing the insect in a natural state. 


20 NOTES ON A SPECIES OF SANDFLY 


The third longitudinal starts a little beyond the point 
where the second unites with the first, and pursues a straight 
course to the border of the apex of the wing. 

Below this and originating about the centre is the fourth 
faintly marked longitudinal, pursuing a _ parallel course 
but dipping slightly, it reaching the edge as far below the apex 
as the termination of the third is above it. None of these are 
forked. 

The fifth, arising in the axilla, is very distinct; it runs 
obliquely until below the thickened insertion of the first veins on 
the costal edge; on reaching that point it forks, the upper 
arcuating slightly, the lower tending downwards to unite on 
the lower border at its central point. The petiole is a little 
more than the length of the fork. A sixth longitudinal faintly 
marked runs a little below and parallel with the petiole, near the 
bifurcation of which it terminates. 

The legs are very muscular, and are often used in leaping 
from one point to another, after the manner of the lively flea. 
A jump of fifty times their length is no unusual thing. The 
pro-legs are the shortest, the middle and hind ones not differing 
much in length. The first long joint is the thigh or femur; the 
second, rather thinner, is the tibia, or shank ; and the tarsus, 
or foot, is formed from the last five joints. 

he first joint of the hind foot is noticeable for a row of 
spines of equal length placed in one line, like the teeth of a 
comb. The insect actually puts them to this use. Occasionally 
it can be seen combing out its hairs oa the abdomen, and other 
parts of the body. And I have seen the gentlemen bending down 
his head, and with the bristles on his fore legs combing out his 
whiskers, or the long hairs of his antennae, very likely before he 
went out to visit his young lady. 

The joints of the legs seem to be connected rather loosely 
together, but this gives them a wide range of movement. Hach 
leg terminates in a pair of zlaws widely separated like the hooks 
of a grappling iron. They are black and sharply pointed. 
Between these hooks a little feathery organ hangs. I have not 
been able to reproduce it in a photograph, so have made a rough 
sketch of it. It is like a root with lateral branches. The shaft 
and branches are dotted with little cells. No doubt it is the 
representative of the pulvilli of the housefly. The minute dots 
are cells secreting glutinous material, which enable it to adhere 
to smooth surfaces, where the claws cannot obtain a foothold. 
On the tibia of the female are a few small cones, or club-like 


ae, 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE. 21 


hairs, seemingly connected with some special sense. Most 
likely they are olfactory cones, or organs of smell. Insects often 
have sense organs in what are to us unlikely places. For 
instance, the locust has an ear on the leg. And it is not 
improbable that they have senses differing from any that we 
possess. 

The abdomen is composed of the usual chitinous segments 
found in insects. The dorsal aspect is of a dark brown colour, 
with a narrow grey bar separating the segments, which also 


_ extends like a stripe along the sides. This lighter portion is 


capable of considerable expansion, when the eggs are enlarged 
in the ovaries. Long curved hairs, black in colour, are scattered 
over the parts, being longer in the male body. In his case the 
last segment terminates in a pair of hooks called claspers, while 
in the female a pair of fleshy lobes are found, which are used in 
placing the eggs in position outside of the body. 

Passing now into the interior of the body the most inter- 
esting to us are the salivary and poison glands. These are the 
organs which render the insect so noticeable and mischevious. 
The mere prick of its tiny lancets would never be noticed but 
for the injection of the fluid from these glands into the wound. 
Two of these are found lying in the prothorax. You see one in 
one of the photographs attached to the head by the poison tube, 
and appearing like a tiny balloon. It only measures the four- 
hundredth part of an inch in length, and takes the form of a 
roundish pear. ~ Interiorly, it is filled with granular matter 
which stains readily, more especially on the circumference. 
The long tube by which they are attached to the neck is ringei 
internally and expands in width as it approaches the gland. In 
the mosquito the veneno salivary gland divides into three distinct 
lobes, each having its own separate tubule ; but here each gland 
consists of but one lobe. At its base, two tiny buds are seen, 
which may possibly be the analogues of the others found in the 
mosquito. 

At the base of the central lancet lies the aesophagus, or 
gullet, a stout muscular tube, in which, coupled with capillary 
attraction, the blood-sucking power rests. Towards the lower 
part it widens to unite with the stomach. This organ, when 
empty, is usually found thrown into longitudinal folds, and the large 
epitheiral cells with which it is lined are easily traceable through 
its walls. At its lower end it slightly thickens encircling the 
base by a rim, and from this spring two very long Malpighian 
tubes. They lie upon the outside of the stomach, folded three 


22, NOTES ON A SPECIES OF SANDFLY 


or four times up and down on account of their length. On 
these, at regular intervals, large glandular cells are placed. It 
is thought that these tubes fulfil functions similar to the liver 
in animals. 

The nervous system consist of the brain and six ganglia 
united by a double cord of nerves. From each side of these 
nerve reservoirs branches proceed, which ramify to different 
parts of the body. ‘The last ganglionic mass in the abdomen is 
double the size of those preceeding it, as it has to supply the 
organs of reproduction, as well as the neighbouring structures, 
with nervous force. 

With regard to the function of respiration a peculiar pro- 
vision for the reception of air is found in the possession of three 
air sacs. ‘l'wo lie in the thorax, and the third extends like a 
bag to the lower part of the abdomen. ‘They are attached to the 
aesophagus near the neck. ‘The two smaller sacs are probably 
compensatory additions, which come into~ play when the 
abdomen of the female is distended with eggs. Then the 
pressure of its contents prevent the expansion of the main air 
sac, so that it is comparatively useless for the time, (as a matter 
of fact I have generally found it almost empty); then the two 
thoracic sacs come into play and retain air for the purposes of 
lightening the specific gravity, and the respiration of the insect- 
As in the case of the mosquito the air in the sacs is in the form 
of minute bubbles, separated from each other by an oily film. 
The sac walls are very transparent, resist most stains, and con- 
tain longitudinal and transverse fibres, so that they seem 
capable of contraction and expansion. The whole of the 
abdominal organs are subject to a perisaltic movement. They 
are slowly drawn forward and then thrust backward every few 
seconds. Thus the process of digestion is aided by the food 
being moved about in the intestines, and the function of respir- 
ation is likewise accelerated by the air being forced through the 
tracheal tubes. 

In the last segment of the female are found two brown oval 
organs like beans; these are the spermathzca, which secrete 
the gum by which the eggs are united together. The mosquito 
possesses three, but only two are found in the sandfly. A 
slender tube passes from each into the lower bowel, so that their 
contents can be brought into contact with the eggs as they pass 
from the ovarian duct to be placed on the outside of the body, 
The egg sacs occupy in the female a large space in the abdomen. 
One is placed to the left and the other on the right. A large 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE. 93 


tracheal tube passes into each, giving off smaller branches, 
which further subdivide and ramify throughout the whole of the 
egg mass. 

The number of eggs varies, ranging from one to two 
hundred. The largest number I have found has been two 
hundred and ten, They measure the one hundred and fiftieth 
of an inch in length, by half that in breadth. They are oval, 
yellow, and transparent, looking very like minute gelatine 
capsules. In the photo given they are laid attached side by side 
in a long ribbon; but I do not regard this as the normal shape of 
the ege mass. In captivity insects often do things which thoy 
would not in a state of nature, and a judgment formed under 
these circumstances may prove to be inaccurate, and I have 
others wherein the shape is much more like the egg-boat of the 
common mosquito. 

The male and female forms are easily recognized by the 
antennz. In the former these are of a beautiful plumose shape, 
the hairs from the basal joints extending nearly to the tips of 
the organs, but in the female they form a circlet around the base 
of each joint. Her body also is much stouter, and not so long 
as the male. He measures nine while she is about seven-hun- 
dredths of an inch in length, excluding the antenne. 


Measurements of Mare Sandfly — FEMALE 
Antenne 04 inch -02 inch 
Head 0096 003 
Thorax “024 024 
Abdomen 56 04 
Prolegs 059 7033 
Midlegs ‘O07 035 
Hindlegs 074 036 


Wings °064 x ‘018 052 x °022 


NOTES ON A SPECIES OF SANDFLY. 


PLATES OF SANDFLY. 


1.— Head of female sandfiy, with appendages, x 50. 
2.—Part of eye, x 946. 
3.—Joints ot antennz, x 250. 
4.—Terminal joint of antennz, x 143. 
=-—Tersumal joint of anteume, showing facie leu oe 
6.—Palpi and proboscis, x 250. 
7.—Palpi with first and second lancets, x 250. 
8.—Second and central lancets, x 500. 
9.—Wing, x 5C. 
10.—Pro legs, = 38. 
11.—Hind foot, = 30. : 
12.—Last foot joint, with hooks, x 272. 
13.—Sheteh of pulvilli between hooks. 
14.— Head, with poison gland in cenire, x 62. 
15.—Netve ganglions, with nerve connections, x 60. 
16. sophagus, stomach and abdominal canal. malpighian fubes 
arising from base of stomach, x 60. 
i7.— Air saes attached io head, with egg saes below. x 21. 
18.—Egg saes, with one spermothzea in centre, x 55. 
19.—Eggs, with body of mother. 
20.— Male sandiy, x 20. 
21.— Female sandfiy, x 20. 


Proc. Roy. Soc. Q’Lanp, Vou. xvit. 


Proc. Roy. Soc: Q’Lanp, Vou. Xvi. 


TT 


pase i 


eccecses veges] 


Proc. Roy. Soc. Q’nanp, Vou. xvit. Puate III. 


! 
| 
} 


Proc. Roy. Soc. Q’Lanp, Vou. xvu. Prare TY. 


,OCEEDINGS. 


SOCIETY 
2UPENSLAND. 


“VOLUME XVII. PART II. 
Ries, (WITH 10 PLATES.) 


- PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY 
Ne 
Ry, 


RINPERS, ELIZABETH STREET, BRISBANE. 


WVALUN A AS 
ROUEN u 


; 
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Tonnes pp > en Senha 
eer ny wie aS 
- 1. eee 
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. 


PROCEEDINGS 


ROYAL SOCIETY 
U0 aN SLA WN D. 


VOLUME XVII. PART II. 
(WITH 10 PLATES.) 


[The Authors alone are responsible for the opinions expressed in their papers.] 


PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY 
By 


H. POLE & CO., PRINTERS, ELIZABETH STREET, BRISBANE. 


1903. 


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Roval Society of Oneensland. 


Patron: 


HIS EXCELLENCY MAJOR-GENERAL SIR HERBERT 
C. CHERMSIDE, G.C.M.G., C.B. 


Om teri re Ss. 290s: 


President: 
WILTON W. R. LOVE, M.B. 


Vice=President : 
JOHN CAMERON, M.1L.A. 


Hon. Treasurer: 
Hon. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 


Hon. Secretary : 
J. F. BAILEY. 


Hon. Librarian : 
ROWLAND ILLIDGE. 


Members of Council : 


W. J. BYRAM. Cc. J. POUND, F.R.M.S. 
A. G. JACKSON. J. SHIRLEY, B.Sc. 
JOHN THOMSON, M.B. 


Trustees: 


JOHN CAMERON M.L.A. Hon. A. C. GREGORY, C.MEG., MEG, 
Hon. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 


Hon. Auditor: 
A. J. TURNER, F.I.A.V.. 


CORRECTION. 


Page 45, line 4, for F’. Robert Austin read Robert Austin. 
Page 45, line 6, for Kimberley read Murchison. 

Page 152, line 4, for Swanhill read Swan Hill. 

Page 152, line 40, for Glengalen read Glengalian. 

Page 156, line 27, for Fuller’s Creek read Futter’s Creek, 


AN ADDRESS ON SCIENCE AND THE STATE, 
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO 
TUBERCULOSIS AND THE 
PUBLIC HEALTH 


By PROFESSOR E. M. CROOKSHANK, 
M.B., Lonp. 


( Delivered before the Royal Society of Queensland, 22nd May, 1902). 


Mr. Presipent, Your Excellency, Ladies and Gentlemen,—I 
consider it a great honour to have been invited to deliver an 
address before the Royal Society of Queensland, and it is also 
a great pleasure to comply with the request of the President 
and other scientific friends who have shown me much hospitality 
and kindness during my visit to Australia. My time and 
thoughts have been more than occupied with the mission which 
has brought me to this country, and more especially with the 
disastrous condition of the pastoral industry, caused by the 
drought which is so seriously affecting the prosperity of Queens- 
land and New South Wales. If, however, by complying with 
the request of the President, I succeed in the smallest way in 
giving encouragement to the scientific work which is being car- 
ried on in Queensland, I shall feel amply rewarded for the 
sacrifice of the little time which I have had at my disposal. It 
is especially gratifying to me to be associated in any way with 
the work of the Royal Society of Queensland, which, under 
the able presidency of Dr. John Thomson and his distinguished 
predecessors, has done so much to spread scientific knowledge. 
PRACTICAL VALUE OF SCIENCE. 

In spite of the marvellous advances made by science dur- 
ing the past century, there are still those who question the 
practical value of many of its branches, and even if they do not 


oppose financial assistance on the part of the Government, they 
E 


26 SCIENCE AND THE STATE, ETC. 


regard with little concern the retrenchments which have un- 
fortunately to be made in various departments devoted to 
scientific research. I had occasion on my voyage out to Queens- 
land to spend a few weeks in Java. In this tropical island, 
agriculture has been carried on for centuries, and it might 
reasonably be supposed that such long experience had taught 
the inhabitants all that was worth knowing with reference to 
the cultivation ot their land. A rich voleanie soil, abundance 
of mountain streams and rivers, a wonderful system of irriga- 
tion, and the labour of industrious peasants, have made Java 
the garden of the East, and have enabled it to support a popula- 
tion which has increased from three millions at the beginning 
of last century to about twenty-five millions at the present day. 
Yet, with all these natural advantages, I found it universally 
admitted by those engaged in the cultivation of coffee, tea, 
Peruvian bark, rubber, rice, sugar-cane, and other crops, that 
the splendid results were largely due to the assistance given by 
the scientific researches conducted at the Botanical Gardens at 
Buitenzorg and other experimental stations under the able 
direction of Dr. Treub. The Government gives a very large 
subsidy for the maintenance of these gardens, which are ad- 
mitted to be the finest in the world. Immense services have 
been rendered by the scientific staff in experimentally ascer- 
taining the most suitable varieties of plants for cultivation in 
Java, in chemically analysing their products and in investigat- 
ing insects and other pests, and suggesting the necessary 
remedies. To those who may call into question the value of 
scientific knowledge, especially as applied to agriculture, I do 
not think it would be possible to give a more convincing answer 
than by referring to the practical results of the researches daily 
carried on in the science laboratories and experimental gardens 
in Java. 
SCIENCE IN QUEENSLAND. 

In Queensland the policy of combining science with prac- 
tice in agriculture has by no means been lost sight of. The 
annual reports of the Department of Agriculture bear eloquent 
testimony to the excellent work carried on at the State farms 
and by the whole of the scientitic staff. If I may be pardoned 
for referring more particularly to those subjects which especially 
interest me, I would call attention to the invaluable work of 
the Government Entomologist, Mr. Tryon, whose reports are 
models of careful scientific research, and are of the greatest 
practical importance. I cannot refrain from mentioning the 


BY PROFESSOR CROOKSHANK, 27 


work of two of my former pupils. I refer to Mr. Quinnell, 
who both as an instructor and an inspector has proved his ex- 
ceptional ability and fitness for the post he occupies, and to 
Mr. Pound, whose studies of cattle tick and other diseases of 
stock have been of great value to the State. I can only regret 
that in some of the scientific departments the work should be 
hampered by very necessary retrenchment on the part of the 
Government. Reverting for one moment to the work of the 
Government Entomologist, I observe with great satisfaction 
that attention is being given to the insectivorous birds of 
Queensland. A few years ago I visited Jamaica and found it 
suffering greatly from the destruction of birds. I was informed 
that the sugar-cane plantations had been over-run with rats, 
and the mongoose was imported to destroy them. The mon- 
goose spread over the island like the rabbit in New South 
Wales. The rats being exterminated, the poultry yards were at- 
tacked and finally the wild birds. Small black ticks now literally 
cover the vegetation in most parts of the island, and residents 
and visitors suffer from their attacks. It is now almost im- 
possible to walk where there is pasture or vegetation of any 
kind without being infested with ticks. An attempt is being 
made to restore the balance of nature, by first destroying the 
mongoose and then reintroducing birds to destroy the ticks. 
To avoid similar troubles, and in the interest of agriculturists 
and horticulturists, it is very desirable to put a stop to the 
continuous destruction of birds in Queeensland. In addition 
to existing legislation something, perhaps, might be done to 
prevent indiscriminate slaughter of wild birds by imposing a 
gun tax. A license to carry a gun and a license to kill game 
would meet with the approval of all true sportsmen and _ pro- 
duce a substantial revenue, a part of which might be allocated 
to supporting and extending the scientific departments of the 
Board of Agriculture. The too sweeping destruction of trees 
in clearing the scrub for cultivation of the soil, is also a matter 
which I think deserves attention. 


* THE TRAINING OF MEAT INSPECTORS. 

I shall have occasion later on to refer to the subject of meat 
inspection ; but with regard to the work of this department 
of the Board, I trust that in more prosperous times the Go- 
vernment will be induced to place the system of meat inspec- 
tion on a more scientific footing. On studying the statistics 
given by meat inspectors in the annual reports, I regret to 
say, I have found them of very little scientific value. Thus 


28 SCIENCE AND THE STATE, ETC. 


in one report of the carcasses of cattle inspected the returns 
were as follows :— 

‘‘Out of 8,517 bullocks there were condemned for tuber- 
culosis 62, actinomycosis, 26, cancer 4. Out of 2,573 cows the 
rejections for tuberculosis were 39, actinomycosis 11, cancer 2. 
Out of 11,080 tongues, the returns were tuberculosis 220, 
unfit 127, actinomycosis 33, pleurisy 19, cancer 6.” 

In another case the following statistics are given for 
tongues. Of 11,703 bullocks there were condemned for tuber- 
culosis 68, actinomycosis 185, cancered jaw 83. Out of 5,717 
cows the figures were tuberculosis 36, actinomycosis 27, 
cancered jaw 6. In another series of tongues and pharyngeal 
glands condemned by the inspector the results were given as 
follows :—80 per cent, tuberculosis, 60 per cent. actinomycosis, 
10 per cent. ordinary abscess. You will observe that there 
is no record of cancer at all in the last series, and Inspector 
Quinnell states in his report that since taking charge there 
had not been a single instance in his experience of an animal 
being affected with cancer. I shall return to this matter 
again, but is quite obvious from these reports that there is 
great need for uniformity and scientific knowledge. 

Complete and thoroughly scientific reports of meat in- 
spection are of the highest importance to the State of Queens- 
land which has to compete with the Argentine Repablic and 
other countries. In England and on the Continent of Europe 
great importance is now attached to meat inspection, and the 
country which can supply meat and meat products obtained 
from carcases which have been rigidly inspected in a thoroughly 
scientific manner will capture the markets. A reconstruction 
of the Board of Agriculture has been suggested in the: Press, 
and, if this is carried out, I trust that a distinct Veterinary 
Department of the Board will be created. This department 
should be controlled by a scientific and practical veterinarian, 
who would be responsible to the Minister of Agriculture for 
all matters relating to the diseases of stock, meat inspection, 
the control of public abattoirs, and the registration and inspec- 
tion of dairies. Meat inspectors should be appointed, who 
have undergone a special course of training. They should 
hold a certificate as a guarantee to the public that they are 
fully qualified for the work they undertake. To obtain this 
certificate they ought to pass through a course of instruction 
in anatomy, pathology, and veterinary State medicine. 
Anatomy is of great value in training the mind and the eye. 


BY PROFESSOR CROOKSHANK. 29 


It is an exact science, and the mind is not disturbed by new 
theories and a variety of opinions. It encourages close obser- 
vation, requires an accurate memory, and trains the hands in 
delicate manipulations. In pathology special attention must 
be g ven to practical training in the use of the microscope for 
the detection of micro-parasitic diseases. The inspector must 
also have a thorough practical knowledge of sanitation ap- 
plied to abattoirs, stock management, and the preparation of 
meat foods ; and a sound knowledge of the legislation affect- 
ing meat and dairy inspection, which will enable him io use 
the powers he possseses under various Acts of Parliament. 
Legislation must not, however, be regarded as the only means 
of protection in all matters relating to the public health. The 
public must be educated and encouraged to voluntirily carry 
out sanitary measures. I have the greatest confidence in the 
substratum of common-sense characteristic of the British race. 
I do not believe in encouraging too much dependence upon 
State regulations and State control. If I might venture to 
say so, I think in Queensland too much is expected from the 
Government. State control can be carried a great deal too 
far. Legislation may often prove harassing and vexatious, 
and the very object we have in view may be strangled in a 
tangled web of red tape. Too much dependence upon State 
and municipal regulations is not healthy; it tends to destroy 
individual enterprise and initiative, and may, in times of em- 
ergency, produce a panic, by exposing the public to conflicting 
interests and divided control, and involve a great waste of 
public money. 
THE SOCIETY FOR PREVENTION OF 
CONSUMPTION. 

Attempts are, however, being made to deal with sanitary 
reforms by voluntary effort. I refer to the formation of the 
Queensland Society for the Prevention of Tuberculosis. Its 
main object is to educate the general public concerning the 
origin and spread of tuberculosis, and to obtain co-operation 
with the medical and veterinary professions. I trust that the 
very influental committee will meet with the support it de- 
serves, and that this society, which my friend, Mr. Thynne, 
has so much at heart, will prove a success. ‘Though there may 
be points of detail in the programme with which all may not 
agree, yet all should combine to help on a work, which has for 
its object the cure and prevention of such a terrible disease as 
consumption. I should like to see the work carried on entirely 


30 SCIENCE AND THE STATE, ETC. 


by the aid of subscriptions from the public. The Government 
have made a grant of £50, but is it not a mistake to apply to 
the Government for help ? I would rather base the appeal 
to the public for subscriptions upon the fact that it is entirely 
dependent upon them, and [ am sure the appeal will not be 
in vain. There are only a hundred members at present, and 
this is not at all an indication of the interest taken in fighting 
a disease which not only involves so much suffering and dis- 
tress, but perhaps more than any other appeals to human 
sympathy. 
BRISBANE UNIVERSITY. 

There is another movement on foot in which the public 
should assist in order to promote and extend scientific know- 
ledge in Queensland. We have to acknowledge the necessity 
for Government retrenchment, and it results in hampering 
and even stopping scientific work. If further retrenchment is 
necessary, and science continues to be entirely dependent upon 
the Treasury, it may be starved to death. Is there no means 
of averting such a calamity? I understand that there has been 
for some time an idea of creating a University in Brisbane, and 
that the scheme hangs fire, owing to the financial position of 
the Government. Is this not again an instance of too much 
dependence upon the State ? Let the Government by all 
means be asked to give a large grant of freehold land in trust 
for the University, and in more prosperous times, to give a 
subsidy towards its support; but will not private munificence 
endow professorships and scientific laboratories, the expenseS 
of which cannot possibly be defrayed by the students’ fees ? 
In England, in America, and in Canada how much has been 
done by private effort. Surely a commencement might be 
made by an influential committee to organise the University 
and to raise a sum which will enable the building to be com- 
menced. A University for Birmingham, largely owing to the 
influence of Mr. Chamberlain, has been commenced in this 
way. It is a matter in which everyone in Queensland will 
take an interest, for no country or State can hold its own, and 
much less advance, unless education takes a foremost place. 
In England we feel severely the competition of America and 
Germany, and we are fully conscious of the fact that the 
progress made by our competitors has been the outcome of 
their complete system of education. We are now endeavour- 
ing to meet that competition by extending scientific and tech- 
nical education and by founding new universities in London 


BY PROFESSOR CROOKSHANK. 31 


and the provinces. We hope to establish a system similar to 
that existing in Canada, which makes it possible for a really 
clever lad, whatever his position may be, to pass from an 
elementary school step by step to a university career, and thus 
attain the highest possible training in any branch of learning, 
for which he may have shown a special aptitude. I feel con- 
vinced that Queensland will not be behind other States of the 
Commonwealth and other colonies of the Hmpire, and that if 
the university building is commenced, those who have made 
fortunes in mining and commerce, will follow the example of 
patriotic Canadians and Americans. With the aid of private 
-munificence and the support of the State the Brisbane Uni- 
versity would become a seat of learning worthy not only of 
Queensland but of the whole Commonwealth. 
RESEARCH MUST BE CONTINUOUS. 

With such a University we need no longer fear the 
fluctuations in the finances of the State. Scientific researches 
would continue to be prosecuted within the walls of the Uni- 
versity, and continuity in research is essential. Science is 
always extending her frontiers, and scientific work which is 
stopped in any one direction, is like a mine which is tem- 
porarily closed down, except that a vein which was being fol- 
lowed by the prospector in science, may be altogether missed 
by others and his work be lost to the world. As an instance of 
the necessity for continuous work and the intricacy of scientific 
_ problems, and the need for modifying accepted opinions in the 
light of new discoveries, I propose to draw your attention to 
the subject of tuberculosis in relation to the public health. 


HUMAN AND BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS. 

I was asked to address you to-night more particularly upon 
some subject attracting attention in Hngland. When I left 
there was no topic of conversation which was more fully dis- 
cussed in scientific circles that the relation between human and 
bovine tuberculosis, and the origin of human consumption. 
This subject was brought to the front last summer, at the 
International Congress of Tuberculosis, by the well-known dis- 
coverer of the tubercle bacillus, Dr. Robert Koch; and it is 
of so much importance that the Government has appointed 
another Royal Commission to re-investigate it. Up to the 
time of Dr. Koch’s discovery of the tubercle bacillus, in 1882, 
it was a difficult matter to give an exact and comprehensive 
definition of tuberculosis. Dr. Koch’s discovery simplified the 
teaching of pathology. He pointed out that whatever might 


82 SCIENCE AND THE STATE, ETC. 


be the clinical manifestations, or the appearance of a particular 
morbid growth, if the tubercle bacillus was present, the dis- 
ease was tuberculosis. The further discovery of. bacilli with 
similar morphological, tinctorial, and cultural characters in 
tuberculosis of the lower animals, and the fact that human and 
bovine tuberculosis could both be readily inoculated in certain 
animals led to the acceptance of the doctrine that tuberculosis 
was a disease common to man and the lower animals and 
readily inter-communicable. Koch, in the first publication of 
his discovery, announced that tuberculosis of the domesticated 
animals, and especially bovine tuberculosis, was undoubtedly 
a source of human infection. ‘This fact, he added, indicated 
the position, which in the future, hygiene must take in con- 
nection with the danger of the milk of tubercular animals. 
Bovine tuberculosis was identical with human tuberculosis, and 
was a disease transmissible to men. It was therefore to be 
treated like other infectious diseases transmissable from animals 
to human beings. 

Though proofs of the absolute identity of the two diseases 
were undiscoverable, nevertheless Koch’s statements were ac- 
cepted and acted upon. The danger of consuming the flesh and 
milk of tubercular animals was insisted upon in England, pro- 
secutions and heavy penalties followed for allowing meat to be 
sold when there was even only a trifling indication of the 
disease, and the flesh, to all appearance, perfectly healthy. 
Magistrates were very severe in carrying out what they believed 
to be measures for the protection of the public from a terrible 
disease, and honest and well-intentioned tradesmen who had 
erred from ignorance rather than intention were practically 
ruined. There was not only a crusade against the sale of flesh 
and milk from tubercular animals, but it was openly demanded 
that all animals suffering from tuberculosis should be com- 
pulsorily slaughtered, without even any attempt being made to 
face the question of compensation. There is no doubt that 
the result of this crusade was to inflict great hardships upon 
farmers and. the meat trade, and in a great many cases 
grave injustice was committed. The discovery of tuberculin 
made the position still more impossible, for, by its aid, facts 
were brought to light, which proved that tuberculosis existed in 
cattle to an extent which exceeded the wildest statements of 
the most ardent believer in the danger of infection of mankind 
from cattle. Lord Spencer’s celebrated Jersey cattle were 
to all appearance in perfectly healthy condition, with the 


BY PROFESSOR CROOKSHANK. 313) 


exception of two, in which there were suspicious symptoms. 
All reacted to the test of tuberculin, and were killed for 
examination. In every animal there were indications of 
tuberculosis ; a still greater excitement was caused by the 
testing of Queen Victoria’s cows at Windsor. Thirty-two 
gave a reaction, three were doubtful, and five were apparently 
healthy. When the animals were killed and examined, thirty- 
six were found to be tubercular. [Equally startling statistics 
were collected from other quarters. Of cattle tested in 
various parts of England and Scotland, as many as 31 per cent. 
reacted. In London, 25 per cent. of cattle slaughtered under 
the Pleuro-pneumonia compulsory slaughter order, were found 
to be tubercular, and in some herds as many as 380 per cent. 
to 40 per cent. It was estimated that about 20 per cent. of 
milch cows in towns in England were tubercular. In Germany, 
the returns from the abattoirs were in many cases even higher. 
You are now in a position to realise the sensation caused by 
Dr. Koch, when he announced at the last Congress of Tuber- 
culosis in London, that human and bovine tuberculosis were, 
after all, not inter-communicable. This statement upset the 
policy of the medical department of the Local Government 
Board. It paralysed the law, for it was quite impossible in 
the face of such a statement, to obtain a conviction before 
magistrates; and it destroyed many arguments upon which 
the crusade was being instituted for the eradication of human 
tuberculosis. Many, however, hailed the announcement with 
unqualified satisfaction ; for if Dr. Koch’s views were correct, 
then one of the channels of infection which was supposed to 
exist was eliminated, and an imaginary danger removed from 
our midst. In order to follow the controversy which ensued, 
I must refer to Dr. Koch’s researches in some detail, so that L 
may be able to make clear the points at issue, and compare 
his work and conclusions with the experiments and opinions 
of others who have investigated the subject. Dr. Koch’s ex- 
periments were carried on for about two years with the co- 
operation of a very distinguished veterinarian, Professor 
Schutz, of Berlin. In various ways they inoculated 19 cattle 
with tubercular virus from a human source, and none of the 
cattle developed any symptoms of disease. On the other hand, 
cattle inoculated with virus from a bovine source, suffered 
without a single exception from the severest tubercular dis- 
orders of the internal organs. Dr Koch was forced to the 
conclusion that human tuberculosis differed essentially from 


84 SCIENCE AND THE STATE, ETC. 


bovine, and he expressed the opinion that it could not be 
transmitted to cattle; and further, that if man is susceptible 
to bovine tuberculosis, infection from this source must be 
extremely rare. He believed that the extent of infection by 
milk and meat of tubercular cattle (if it existed at all) was so 
trifling that he did not deem it advisable to take any measures 
against it. I entirely agree with Dr. Koch, that if infection 
of mankind occurs from cattle, it is extremely rare, but the 
statement that human tuberculosis cannot under any cireum- 
stances be transinitted to cattle, is erroneous; and I feel very 
strongly that his statement with regard to the inadvisability of 
taking any preventive measures is calculated to do a great deal 
of harm. It creates the impression that dairymen and milk 
sellers are justified in selling tubercular milk. 


CALVES ARE SUSCEPTIBLE TO HUMAN TUBER- 
CULOSIS. 

I feel justified in so far disagreeing with Dr. Koch, be- 
cause in an inquiry undertaken for the Board of Agriculture, 
I had the occasion to make the following experiment :—A 
perfectly healthy calf was inoculated intra-peritoneally with 
virulent human tubercular sputum. So far from the result 
being negative, there was extensive deposit at the seat of inocu- 
lation with numerous tubercles extending from it. The in- 
oculation produced concurrently blood poisoning, and death 
occurred forty-two days afterwards. On microscopical ex- 
amination minute tubercles were found throughout the lungs 
and liver, containing long and beaded bacilli of the human 
type. I did not extend the experiment in this direction, as 
I was deputed at once to make an exhaustive inquiry into 
another disease, which is sometimes mistaken for tuberculosis. 
However, other investigators in Iingland and America have 
since confirmed my results. Dr. Sydney Martin, on behalf of 
the Royal Commissio1 on tuberculosis, also experimented on 
calves with tubercular sputum. Four calves were given sputum 
with food. One calf, killed in four weeks, had developed 53 
nodules ; the second, killed in eight weeks, showed 63; the 
third, killed in twelve weeks, showed 18; and in the fourth, 
there were no nodules at all. The results, however, 
were somewhat puzzling. In calf three, the nodules in the 
intestine contained tubercle bacilli, but they were totally 
absent in the microscopical specimens of the nodules produced 
in calves one and two. In another experiment, two calves 


BY PROFESSOR ChOOKSHANK. 35 


received tubercular spetum with their food. Iv one killed in 
eight weeks, there were 13 nodules in the small intestine and 
mesenteric glands. In the second calf killed in 19 weeks, the 
result was absolutely negative. 

Dr. Ravenel, in the course of a very elaborate inquiry, 
made some experiments of an equally positive character. 
Four calves, were, as in my original experiment, inoculated 
intra-peritoneally with tubercular sputum. In one case the 
result was negative. The other three were all infected, the 
lesions in two being extensive. On the other hand the re- 
sults were uniformly negative when Dr. Ravenel mixed human 
tubercular sputum with the food. To sum up, the evidence is 
conclusive as to the possibility of grafting human tubercle in 
bovine tissues, but the experiments are not invariably success- 
ful. The results are, I think, to be explained in this way. 
Human and bovine tuberculosis are distinct varieties of the 
same disease. They are variations resulting from cultivation 
on different soils. Bearing this in mind, we would hardly 
expect that the attempts to transmit human tubercle to cattle 
would be always successful. Too much stress cannot be laid 
upon the necessity of realising the differences which exist in 
the nature of the soil upon which a virus is inoculated. This 
is very well illustrated in the inoculation of human small-pox 
upon cattle. Smallpox is essentially a disease peculiar to man. 
It has never been known to attack cattle, but the virus of 
smallpox can, in exceptional cases, be cultivated on bovine 
tissues. The experiments are so difficult to carry out, that 
many have failed, and have positively refused to believe in the 
successful results of others. Variolation of the cow is never- 
theless a fact, and so marked is the effect of cultivating the 
smallpox virus upon a soil which is foreign to it, that the 
highly infectious disease in man becomes transformed in cattle 
into a mild disease which is not infectious. The effect of a 
foreign soil is also illustrated in the result of inoculating 
sheep-poxin man. This highly infectious disease of sheep when 
graited on human tissue is also transformed into a mild 
non-infectious disorder. 

We can take it for granted that in exceptional cases 
human tubercular virus can be experimentally grafted on 
cattle, and we have good reason to believe that in exceptional 
cases, bovine bacilli may invade the human tissues. I refer to 
those rare cases in which there has been accidental inoculation. 
Veterinary surgeons, butchers, and others whose occupation 


36 SCIENCE AND THE STATE, ETC. 


brings them into contact with the diseased cattle, do suffer 
from tubercular nodules in the skin, which contain tubercle 
bacilli, undergo caseation, and disappear. Iam convinced that 
human infection with the bovine variety of tubercle can only 
be quite exceptional: if it were not so, the inhabitants of 
every country in the world in which bovine tuberculosis is 
prevalent, would be decimated by tubercular disease. Tubercle 
bacilli occur with frequency in milk, cream, butter, cheese, 
and I have already given you some idea of the quantity of 
meat derived from animals with more or less tuberculosis, 
TUBERCULOSIS IN CHILDREN. 

I would next draw your attention to the theory that 
tuberculosis in children is necessarily due to infection from 
the milk of tubercular cows. Those who advocate this view 
appear to have entirely lost sight of the opportunities for 
inoculation from a human source. Tuberculosis of the digestive 
tract may result from swallowing sputum when there is con- 
current disease of the lungs, and in many other ways. There 
are obviously many paths by which a child may be infected 
by the mouth with bacilli from a human source. A tubercular 
mother may take little or no precaution in nursing her children, 
and the habit of tasting food before giving it to an an infant 
suggests a channel of infection. Various objects contaminated 
by consumptive sputum may find their way to the mouth of a 
child. London physicians who have had enormous experience 
with patients suffering from consumption, of all ages, are by 
no means ready to accept the milk theory. Sir Richard 
Douglas Powell, one of the most cautious and scientific of 
living phyicians, in his evidence before the Royal Commission, 
stated that he had not met with any cases in his experience 
which would connect consumption in man with the use of milk 
and meat from tubercular animals. Dr. Goodhart, consulting 
physician to the Evelina Hospital for Children, was of the 
same opinion. I certainly am not prepared to attribute tuber- 
culosis in children to a bovine origin, especially as the experi- 
ments of Nocard and others have shown that when the milk 
of the tubercular cow is mixed with the milk of healthy cows 
it is no longer virulent to experimental animals. In order 
to accept the theory that tuberculosis in children is due to 
cow’s milk, we should have to believe that in every instance 
the milk supplied bad been obtained direct from the udder of 
a tubercular animal, without being mixed with the milk of 
other cows. 


BY PROFESSOR CROOKSHANK. 37 


I consider, nevertheless, that milk from cows suffering 
from any diseased condition of the udder or teats is unwhole- 
some, and I maintain that when we pay for pure milk, we 
are entitled to have it. We want the doctrine of absolute 
cleanliness to reach our dairies, both public and private On 
no account should any ‘‘ waster’’ or ‘‘piner,’’ or cow suffer 
ing from any disease affecting the milk, be admitted into the 
herd. Registration and inspection of dairies are of great im- 
portance, but with or without Government Inspectors, I think 
the public might to a great extent protect themselves. It 
would be a distinct advantage to adopt the Danish system of 
co-operation. In towns like Brisbane, small dairymen should 
combine to form large model dairies. They should invite 
inspection of their premises and farms. They would find it 
to their own advantage to employ a veterinary inspector. The 
public would be willing to pay a higher price if they had a 
guarantee that the cows were healthy, and that every pre- 
caution had been taken in the collection, in the transit, and 
in the delivery of the milk. A great deal has been said upon 
the necessity of boiling milk. Except in time of epidemics, it 
is not a practice likely to be generally adopted. Pure fresh 
milk is an ideal food, and the boiling of milk alters its com- 
position. lt is then very unpalatable to many people; and is 
not only unsuitable, but in many cases dangerous for infants. 
Neither Dr. Powell or Dr. Goodhart were prepared to recom- 
mend the boiling of all milk. From their evidence, we may 
gather that they had other causes of consumption in their 
minds. ‘They insisted upon the fact that tuberculosis of the 
bowels is almost unknown in very young children, and it is not 
very common even in children from five to ten years old. 
Dr. Goodhart laid great stress upon the fact that tuberculosis 
in children was very common when there was-a distinct family 
history of tubercle, and it was quite common also to find 
children becoming tubercular after measles, bronchial-pneu- 
monia, whooping cough, and intestinal catarrh, 

I would draw attention to the fact that negro children 
in the West Indies suffer from tubercle, and they have very 
little milk, and this, owing to the tropical climate, is almost 
always boiled. Tuberculosis in children in England is largely 
a disease of the poor. Though it attacks all classes, it is 
extremely common among the London poor, and in all our 
over-crowded towns. The disease among the poor is attribut- 
able more to the want of milk, than to the possible occurrence 


38 SCIENCE AND THE STATE, ETC. 


of a few stray bacilli. Plenty of milk, good nourishing food, 
better hygienic surroundings, will, with certainty, diminish 
the number of tubercular children in England. As the slums 
are removed from our over-crowded cities, and when the problem 
of the better housing of the poor has been solved, we may 
confidently expect to see a steady diminution of consumption. 
In Brisbane, and other growing towns in Queensland, it 
should be the care of the Government, of Municipal Authorities, 
and the public that the insanitary conditions which we have 
inherited in the old country, should never be allowed to 
arise. 


FLESH OF TUBERCULAR ANIMALS. 

As regards any danger from consuming the flesh of 
animals with tuberculosis, I believe it is practically nil. There 
has not been a single case recorded of tuberculosis contracted 
by eating tuberculous meat. Jews have a very thorough system 
of meat inspection, and yet they are by no means free from 
tuberculosis. In the course of my travels in the West 
Indies I found that the negroes were very liable to consump- 
tion, and Dr. Williams, of Demerara, pointed out to the Royal 
Commission that the Hindoo Coolies also suffered very 
severely. Yet Hindoos eat very little meat of any kind, and 
the negroes eat meat in very small quantities, and then it is 
beef or salt pork imported from America, and well cooked 
before it is eaten. They, however, take very little care to 
protect themselves from chills, and they live for the most part 
in small and badly ventilated buildings. We are justified in 
concluding that if the carcase is well-nourished, the meat is 
perfectly wholesome, in spite of the existence of local deposits 
of turbercle in the viscera and glands, which should, of course, 
be condemned. The views of extremists cannot be carried into 
effect. It is sometimes argued that though an animal 
may be in prime condition, if there is a single tuberculous 
nodule, the carcase ought to be destroyed. In my opinion, 
there would be no justification for the wholesale destruction of 
such valuable food. Compulsory destruction of every 
animal with the slightest indication of tuberculosis would 
ruin the farming industry. No Government would face the 
question of compensation for every case of tuberculosis, however 
slight the lesion. Such a course would involve the destruction 
of an enormous proportion of the cattle of the United 
Kingdom, and create a meat and milk famine. To secure 
perfectly healthy cows, thus saving much loss, and ensuring the 


BY PROFESSOR CROOKSHANK. 39 


supply of pure and wholesome milk, will be a splendid work 
for veterinary surgeons and breeders of stock to undertake, and 
one to which they should direct all their energy. It can be 
confidently asserted that there can be no better recommendation 
of Queensland meat than a very high standard of health in 
Queensland cattle, and the percentage of tuberculosis in cattle 
in Queensland would appear to be extremely low. I find in the 
reports of the Board of Agriculture, out of 21,768 cattle 
slaughtered, the proportion of tubercle was 1.1 per cent. 

In another report of 27,905 slaughtered, the percentage of 
tubercle was .9 per cent. But as I have already pointed out, 
it is difficult to arrive at a correct estimate from the published 


returns. 
SO-CALLED “CANCER” IN CATTLE. 


It is absolutely necessary to differentiate in every instance 
the disease known as Actinomycosis. I have already referred 
to the use of the word ‘‘ cancer’’ in the reports of the meat 
inspectors. I regret to find that this popular term is still made 
use of. Probably those who use it little realise how damaging 
it is to the meat industry of the State. Last year, there was a 
correspondence in the Times, in which it was suggested that 
the increase of cancer in England was due to eating the flesh of 
cancerous animals imported from the colonies. I took an 
early opportunity of pointing out the absurdity of suggesting 
any connection between so-called cancer in cattle, and cancer 
in the human subject. Many years ago I published an ex- 
haustive report upon Actinomycosis which is prevalent in 
England. I pointed out that various manifestations of this 
disease were known to farmers and breeders as ‘‘ cancer of the 
tongue,’’ ‘‘cancer of the jaw,” ‘‘cancerous polypus,’’ ‘‘ osteo- 
sarcoma,’’ and various other misleading names. Every one of 
the cases which came under my observation was shown to be a 
manifestation of Actinomycosis, a local inflammatory affection, 
associated with the presence of a characteristic fungus known 
as the streptothrix actinomyces. The disease has no relation 
whatever to cancer in the human subject. It is this disease 
which is met with in Queensland, and it is most unfortunate 
that the public should be alarmed by any reference to cancer. 
I trust that in all future reports of the meat inspectors, that 
the popular term ‘“‘cancer’’ will be left out altogether, and 
that the scientific name for every disease will be given. Ae- 
tinomycosis, though common in cattle, occurs also, though 
rarely, in man, and as in the case of tuberculosis, it has been 


40 SCIENCE AND THE STATE, ETC. 


suggested that the disease is derived from cattle. It is, in my 
opinion, a distinct variety. I do not accept the theory that 
man and animals infect each other with actinomycosis, but IL 
believe that they contract the disease quite independently, and 
that the micro-organism is derived from some source in com- 
mon. And, further, the flesh in these cases is perfectly whole- 
some, and only the tongue or other part affected need be de- 
stroyed. 
PSEUDO-TUBERCLE BACILLI. 3 

We have not only to distinguish Actinomycosis from tuber- 
culosis, but we must in future pay close attention to dis- 
tinguish the tubercle bacillus from some recently discovered 
and closely allied bacilli. There is no doubt that the reports 
of the discovery of tubercle bacilli to an alarming extent in 
milk and milk products, and in the dust of rooms inhabited by 
consumptive patients, will have to be modified. After the first 
discovery of the tubercle bacillus, all rod-like organisms, with 
the same tinctorial characters, were pronounced to be tubercle 
bacilli, with the exception of the leprosy bacillus, and a 
bacillus found in certain secretions. Jurther investigations of 
some of these bacilli have given very striking results. The first 
discoveries in this «lirection were by Petri and Rabinowitch, 
who succeeded in showing that there was a bacillus in batter, 
with all the general characteristics of the tubercle bacillus ; 
and further, the inoculation of this bacillus in guinea pigs 
produced lesions, which to the naked eye, and under the 
microscope, were very easily mistaken for tuberculosis. Korn 
and others have described other forms in butter and milk, not 
materially differing from one another, and Moeller regards them 
as varieties of the so-called grass bacillus, obtained from 
grasses and dust, The latter was first obtained from Timothy 
grass, and is known as the Timothy bacillus. It cannot pos- 
sibly be distinguished microscopically from the tubercle bacil- 
lus. It is granular, and exhibits branching and club-like 
‘ swellings; it stains exactly like the tubercle bacillus; and the 
cultures, though differing at first, after passage through 
animals, strongly resemble those of tubercle. In guinea-pigs 
the lesions are similar to those set up by the butter bacillus, 
aud in rabbits they are very difficult to distinguish from true 
tubercle, owing to the formation of giant cells and epitheloid 
cells and caseation. Another grass bacillus is similar in stain- 
ing reactions to the tubercle bacillus, but it is rather thicker, 
and has a special tendency to form threads. It produces in 


BY PROFESSOR CROOKSHANK. 41 


guinea-pigs lesions similar to those caused by the butter 
bacillus. Another pseudo-turbecle bacillus has been isolated 
from manure and from the excrement of cows ‘and other 
herbivora. Other bacilli of this class have been found by 
Fraenkel and Pappenheim in pulminary gangrene and other 
morbid conditions of the lungs, and by Moeller in nasal and 
pharyngeal mucus. 


PREVENTION OF CONSUMPTION. 


With regard to the prevention of consumption, this must 
be left principally to the sanitary inspector and the medical 
officer of health. We must not concentrate all our energies 
upon the destruction of tubercular sputum, but -give much 
more attention to those insanitary conditions which are respon- 
sible for the causation of tuberculosis. This is a matter which, 
in Brisbane, can be safely left in the hands of the energetic 
Commissioner of Health. Dr. Ham has before him a career 
of great usefulness in this city, but if he were to do nothing 
more than what he has already achieved, he would deserve to 
be remembered with gratitude by the public of Brisbane. I 
refer more particularly to the institution of a Queensland 
branch of the London Sanitary Institution, the recognised 
authority for granting certificates qualifying persons as Sanitary 
Inspectors. This will have a far-reaching effect in obtaining 
and maintaining a high state of sanitation in this town. 
I regard the trained Sanitary Inspector as the most formidable 
opponent of diseases such as diphtheria, typhoid, cholera, 
plague, and yellow fever, which flourish wherever insanitary 
conditions prevail. If only Sanitary Inspectors could, without 
let or hindrance, carry out their duties under the direction of 
- one central authority, we should soon hear of a reduced death 
rate and far greater immunity from epidemic diseases. The 
work of Sanitary Inspectors is one which ought to be more fully 
appreciated by the public, and instead of hindrances, facilities 
should be put in their way when carrying out duties which 
involve the general health of the community and the saving of 
many human lives. 


As regards the relation between tuberculosis and in- 
sanitary conditions, we have some evidence forthcoming from 
the study of the disease in animals. Tuberculosis, for in- 
stance, is peculiarly liable to occur among birds and animals 


kept in captivity; poultry and guinea-fowls, and ostriches, and 
F 


42 SCIENCE AND THE STATE, ETC. 


emus, and other birds in zoological gardens, develop’ tuber- 
culosis ; monkeys in captivity, pheasants in preserves, and 
rabbits in overcrowded warrens, sometimes die in great num- 
bers. These examples point to the conclusion that confine- 
ment, over-crowding, defective ventilation, heredity and breed- 
ing in and in, are powerful factors in rendering the tissues 
prone to tubercle, and a fitting soil for the invasion of the 
bacilli. We must also remember the danger of damp houses, 
and the effect of a cold and a foggy climate. In addition to 
general insanitary conditions, I desire to draw particular atten- 
tion to the influence of alcoholism. This was brought most 
forcibly before the London Congress in an exhaustive paper 
by Dr. Brouardel. The influence of previous diseases has been 
urged by Dr. Goodhart; and special trade occupations which 
involve inhalation of dust of various kinds, must not be over- 
looked. I trust that much weight will be given to these 
matters by the Queensland Society for the Prevention of 
Consumption. 


HEREDITY. 


I should like to say a few words on the subject of heredity. 
Heredity is of two kinds. ‘There is hereditary pre-disposition, 
and hereditary transmission. Inherited susceptibility renders 
many liable to the development of tubercular disease. Family 
history plays a very important part in tuberculosis. Sir 
Richard Powell stated to the Commission that in his experience,. 
48 per cent. of the cases in the hospitals suffering from 
tuberculosis had a previous history of hereditary tuberculosis. 
Dr. Klein and Mr. Victor Horsley are convinced that there 
is direct transmission of the virus of tubercle in some 
cases, and that it may exist for many years in a latent 
form. In connection with the question of heredity, some 
interesting observations have been recorded upon tuberculosis 
in birds. According to Dr. Baumgarten, a male bird on a 
poultry farm developed tuberculosis. All the chickens reared 
from this parent were tubercular. There was no evidence 
of infection with either human or bovine tubercle. An 
identical case occurred on another farm, and these instances 
have been quoted in support of the theory of direct transmis- 
sion of the virus from the parent. Tuberculosis is not a com- 
mon disease in calves, and it seems probable that these cases 
which do occur are mostly, if not entirely, the result of 
hereditary transmission. 


WF il ul 


BY PROFESSOR CROOKSHANK. : 43 


CONSUMPTION NOT INFECTIOUS, BUT 
INOCULABLE. 


In conclusion, I would like to draw attention to the 
theory upon which so much stress has of late been laid, viz., 
that consumption is infectious. I feel very strongly that this 
is most misleading, and I think we ought to do all we can to 
allay the public anxiety which has arisen from the belief that 
consumption can be caught like scarlet fever. To compare it 
also to typhoid fever is a great mistake. In typhoid epidemics 
at home, in India, and recently in South Africa, we know that 
those in health and out of health fell victims to the discase 
when they took the poison in food or water. Tuberculosis is 
not infectious, but it is an inoculable disease. In the Brompton 
Hospital in London, it has been found that among nurses, 
porters, physicians, surgeons, in fact among all those who have 
been in connection with it, the mortality from consumption is 
within the average of ordinary mortality. If tuberculosis were 
an infectious disease, and readily conveyed from person to 
person, the marriage of individuals who become, or are con- 
sumptive, would be a fruitful source of direct infection. We 
should hear constantly of instances in which married people 
had infected each other with tuberculosis. There is a great 
difference between natural infection and experimental in- 
oculation, and to this we should attach the greatest importance. 


It cannot be too widely known how virulent is the sputum 
of consumptive patients when inoculated in susceptible animals, 
and the habit of spitting in public places and railway carriages. 
and other conveyances should be prohibited. It is a dis- 
gusting habit, but there is no need to create a panic or 
raise an outcry for legislation, making spitting in public places 
a matter to be dealt with in the Police Court. The sputum 
of consumptive persons should be disinfected. A good deal of 
attention has been drawn to the danger of sputum when dried 
and raised in dust. The virulence is greater when the sputum 
is moist, and when it has not been exposed to sunlight. That 
the virus of tubercle is scattered far and wide, and is a danger 
to all is not a theory which is supported by experiment or ex- 
perience. For example, sputum dried and disinfected by the 
powerful action of the Australian sun will be rendered inert. 
Dr. Ransom maintains that in a well ventilated room sputum 
is harmless. Tubercular sputum kept in the ventilating shaft 
of a hospital proved virulent to rodents, but similar sputum in 
a well ventilated and well lighted room became absolutely 


44 SCIENCE AND THE STATE, ETC. 


harmless. It is, no doubt, owing to this exaggerated idea of 
infection that there have been such extreme proposals as the 
New Zealand Act excluding tubercular immigrants. It is 
probably due to the same cause that there is some prejudice in 
Queensland against the building of sanatoria for consumptives. 
There is not a shadow of foundation for the theory that there 
is danger to the inhabitants of a township if a sanatorium is 
erected in the neighbourhood. I trust there will be no opposi- 
tion to erecting sanatoria for the poor and for paying patients. 
Bright sunshine, invigorating air, and cheerful surroundings, 
are conditions which compensate in some measure for separa- 
tion from family and friends, alleviate the sufferings, and give 
hope in many cases of permanent recovery. 


CONCLUSION. 


In the remarks I have made to-night, I have touched upon 
many controversial points, and I have endeavoured to indicate 
the lines upon which further research is require?. I trust that 
those engaged in scientific inquiries in Queensland will help to 
throw light on these points. The report of the new Royal Com- 
mission now sitting in London will be awaited with interest, but 
in the meantime there is no uncertainty as to the course to be 
adopted by those responsible for the public health. Whatever 
the result of that inquiry may be as regards the relation of 
bovine to human tuberculosis, we know that there are many 
factors in the production of the disease. 

The removal of insanitary conditions by the co-operation 
of the public with sanitary officials, will secure for Brisbane 
the enviable position of being conspicuous among all the great 
cities of the Commonwealth, on account of its low death rate 
and practical immunity from all epidemic diseases. 


NOTES OF SAVAGE LIFE IN THE EARLY DAYS 
OF WEST AUSTRALIAN SETTLEMENT. 
(Puates VY. anv VI.) 


(Based on reminiscences collected from F'. Robert Austin, Civil 
Engineer, late Assistant Surveyor, W.A., late Sergeant-at-Arms 
Parliament of Queensland, discoverer of the Kimberley Goldfields, 
WA.) 


By WALTER E. ROTH, M.R.C.S., B.A., Oxon. 


NortHern Protector or ABORIGINALS, Q. ; CORRESPONDING 
MemBER OF THE Royau Socrety or Tasmania. 


[Read before the Royal Society of Queensland 8th March, 1902.| 


Tue following notes deal with an account of a tribe occupy- 
ing the country around Port Leschenhault, Koombana Bay— 
where Bunbury now stands—lat. about 30 deg. 80 min. south, 
long. 116 deg. east—in the district of Wellington, Western Aus- 
tralia. The back country here in the years 1841-3, to which 
times these reminiscences refer, was known to the natives as 
i-lap. On the coast the nature of the soil was sandy, although 
further inland it was rich, fertile, and well watered; all around 
were large areas of Zamia,* a plant which there attained a very 
great size. The surrounding country, at this time, had only 
been settled about eleven years previously. 


The habitual posture of sleep was lying on the back, but, 
as a rule, the head was not raised. A very common position of 
standing was, in the case of the men, with the sole of one foot 
resting upon the area just below the opposite knee, the hand, 
corresponding to the raised leg, being supported on a spear. In 
walking the foot was very straight; in those cases where it 
was turned outwards it was noticeable and characteristic, espe- 


* Macrozamia Fraseri, Wiq. 


46 NOTES ON SAVAGE LIFE, ETC. 


cially when ‘ tracking’’ was concerned. The arms were never 
swung while walking; they always hung straight down, and 
gave the observer an impression of a very erect carriage. 
Neither men nor women appeare’l conscious of any indecency in 
appearing perfectly nude in public whenever it was expedient to 
remove their cloaks. The women, however, when sitting on the 
ground, doubled up one leg, and placed the foot against the 
fork; when standing, and wishing to talk, the gentler sex 
would rarely face one, but generally turn more or less sideways. 
Climbing trees was always effected by cutting alternate nicks, 
and in swimming the movement was hand over hand, just like 
a doz. 


The year was marked by the mnu-jain (Nuytsia floribunda) 
coming into blossom ; this is of a rich orange colour, and can 
be seen for miles around. The plant has a very soft kind of 
covering, reminding one of the bottle-tree. The gum exuding 
from it—and this is translucent, like jelly, of about the same 
consistency as wax, and never gets hard—is used as an article 
of die’, notwithstanding the fact of its producing great flatu- 
lence. They know when to expect the different seasons, and 
were unerring judges of the weather. Smaller epochs of time 
were reckoned by the moon (miki), (‘‘ big fellow ”’ denoting “ full”’ 
moon), and the sun (ang-a), according to the elevation of which 
the day was divided. They had a name for night, as distin- 
cuished from day, and also terms denoting the points of the 
compass: thus, ja-ral-li, bu-yal-li, i-re, and wu-dal-li denoted 
respectively the cardinal points north, south, east, and west. 
Travelling at night in the bush was effected by local know- 
ledge. 


Enumeration took place with the aid of the fingers and 
toes, separately distinct words being usel up to ten; beyond 
that, everythig was bn-la, the idea of multiplicity and plenty. 
Neither stones, pebbles, twigs, nor marks of any kind ever 
assisted them in performing the processes of notation. 


There was no term expressive of the idea of disease in 
particular, but the word men-dik included every pathological 
condition : thus, ‘‘ ka-ta men-dik ”’ implied headache ; ‘‘ kob-bal 
men-dik,’’ stomach-ache, etc. They had a superstition that their 
medicine-men or doctors (bukol-ya, a name also applied to any 
evil spirit) could make any individual sick by various incanta- 
tions and charms, and effect cures, under different manipula- 


BY WALTER E. ROTH, M.R.C.S., B.A., OXON. 47 


tions, by removing sticks and stones out of the patient’s body. 
They were invariably very good and tender to their sick, and 
were great believers in rubbing or massage. Wherever pain 
was, there the part was rubbed, women rubbing men, and men 
massaging one another. When suffering from headache, or 
otherwise sick, the hair would often be cut. Red gum was very 
commonly taken in cases of dysentery. The bleeding of wounds 
was usually stanched with blue-gum leaves, the cut surface 
being subsequently besmeared with mud and earth. In the 
case of such-like injuries they could always tell whether the 
damage would prove fatal, or the reverse; indeed, practising 
their primitive method of treatment, they could almost invari- 
ably prognosticate the length of time, even to a month, before 
full recovery would take place. Their vitality was remarkable. 
Even in the case of spear-wounds through the body—cases 
which have been observed—their restoration after a certain 
lapse of time to perfect health was of no unusual occurrence. 
The total absence of shock to the system, or any dread of death, 
may of course have materially aided the convalescence. Taking 
all in all, there was but little sickness among these people, 
ordinary colds and chills perhaps excepted. 


Their methods of hunting were all primitive. Until the 
advent of the whites, the catching of fish with nets was never 
dreamt of ; no hooks and lines were used, but the fish speared 
principally in shallow waters in the estuaries and lakes. Weirs 
were resorted to in swampy channels, these being formed of 
brushwood intertwined on stakes, with here and there a pocket, 
at the bottom of which a kind of basket-work would be con- 
structed. Any poisoning of the water with noxious plants, or 
mud dying with the feet, was unknown. Kangaroos were not 
only stalked and speared, but trapped on favourable ground by 
digging along their customary tracks deep pitfalls, covered with 
twigs and earth. These pits were about 8 or 9 feet long, 7 or 8 
feet deep, and about 10 inches wide, just leaving margin enough 
for the hind feet to fall into. Wallabies were caught in 
‘‘drives,’’ fences being built in favourable situations along the 
ravines, with sometimes wattle-work at the end of the drive, 
woven into a short square basket-work-like mesh with sticks. 
A common method of catching emus was, for the hunter to plant 
himself up amongst the thick foliage of a tree close to the spring, 
etc., whither the bird was accustomed to come for water. Hidden 


48 NOTES ON SAVAGE LIFE, ETC. 


there, he attracted his prey by means of a tuft of cockatoo fea- 
thers stuck on to the top of his spear ; this special weapon being 
of a comparatively heavy type, quite 12 feet long, and a portion 
of it quite as thick as an ordinary broomstick. In open country 
the native would stealthily sneak up to the unsuspecting bird 
under cover of some bushes held in front of him. Emus were 
never trapped in pitfalls or nets. Cockatoos, parrots, and other 
winged creatures, especially those flying in flocks, were often 
brought down with sticks or boomerangs; the younger men 
especially would employ the latter weapons, as they never set 
much store upon the time and labour expended in manufactur- 
ing new ones when the old ones were broken. Crayfish were 
caught with the hands. Grubs were obtained from out of grass- 
trees and black wattles; the natives could apparently tell from 
the general aspect of the tree, from the various progressive signs 
of decay, whether the timber was much infested with them or 
not. Many kinds of roots and yams were eaten; among the 
latter, the wor-rain, showing thick yellow blossoms, was very 
common, growing down to a depth of quite 3 feet, and running 
from the thickness of the finger to that of the wrist. An island 
(? Leschenhault Island) in Shark’s Bay, used literally to be 
covered with it. All meats, and the majority of the vegetables, 
were eaten roasted, some of the latter being prepared with great 
care, the bulrush roots in particular, a very nourishing dietary, 
being most methodically slowly cooked in the ashes. So far as 
meals were concerned, the chief one was principally in the even- 
ing, what was left over being partaken of in the morning. The 
natives might pick up during the day anything they could get 
as they passed along. A man would always share with his 
neighbour. In the family circle the men, women, and children 
dined together, but the younger single males at a certain age 
(puberty and onwards) always had a fire to themselves. When 
a stranger came to camp, he sat down outside at a distance of 
some seventy or eighty yards away, and did not come up to the 
fires until invited, when he had food given him; he remained 
comparatively silent except when specially addressed. 


Though cannibalism was not actually witnessed, it had 
been heard of in the neighbourhood. Furthermore, when the 
human entrails, on being thrown into the fire, began to curl up, 
if the ends pointed in the direction of any particular individual 
around, this circumstance boded him ill-luck in the future. 


BY WALTER E. ROTH, M.R.C.S., B.A., OXON. 49 


Narcotics were unknown. Upon this sandy tract of coun- 
try, extending back as it did to some considerable distance from 
the coast, two species of Banksia grew abundantly, one con- 
spicuous by its broad leaf, the other by its narrow leaf. Hach 
species bore cones with pitcher-shaped flowers, which, containing 
a quantity of honey, were especially visited by the black cocka- 
toos. The natives appreciated the honey also, and, pulling 
down the cones by means of a long sapling (close to the ex- 
tremity of which was tied a cross-piece about 9 inches or 10 
inches long, somewhat after the shape of a sheep crook), would 
bite into them and suck the saccharine matter out. At other 
times they utilised the honey by making a fermented drink of 
it, somewhat on the following lines :—Large quantities of the 
flower-bearing cones were taken to the side of some swamp, in 
the close proximity of which several holes were dug into the 
ground, each in the form of a trough about a yard long and 18 
inches deep. Particularly sound sheets of tea-tree bark were 
next stripped from the trees, each piece of bark being tied up 
at the ends with fibre into a sort of boat-shaped vat, the sides 
of which were kept apart by sticks stretched across; the shape 
of the vat lent itself to that of the trough, and there was one vat 
for each trough. The vat was next filled with these cones and 
water, in which they were left to soak. |The cones were subse- 
quently removed and replaced by others until such time as the 
iquid was strongly impregnated with the honey, when it was 
allowed to ferment for several days. The effect of drinking this 
*‘ mead” in quantity was exhilaratiug, producing excessive volu- 
bility. The aboriginals called the cones and the fermented 
liquour produced therefrom both by the same name—the man- 
gaitch. 


Tough not of a common occurrence, a man was considered 
mad when he committed suicide. Homicide, usually a form of 
reprisal, was not justifiable, the culprit having to answer for it 
and to fight his victim’s friend at the next gathering; should 
he not put in an appearance the tribe as a whole would take 
care that a corresponding life were forfeited. ‘An eye for an 
eye, a tooth for a tooth”’ was the golden rule here as well as else- 
where ; an individual speared in the thigh could not wound his 
adversary in the stomach. Abduction, the taking away of a 
man’s wife without his permission, was most unpardonable. The 
greatest offence of all, however, and one the vindication of 
which was taken up by the whole tribe, was that of incest, the 


50 NOTES ON SAVAGE LIFE, ETC. 


crime ot sexual connexion with one of the prohibited classes. 
For adultery, the husband could spear his wife in the leg, ete., 
but not kill her, or otherwise her friends and relations would 
interfere. At other times, should a man prove particularly 
brutal to his better half, the other women would “ egg” their 
male relatives on to him. 


Hach family of the tribe had a more or less defined area of 
country belonging to it—a kind of heritage: its rights over such 
track were respected, and any infringements regarded in the 
light of trespass. Even if an individual of the same tribe, yet 
of a different family, had occasion to traverse it, he would only, 
if obliged at all, take just enough to appease his hunger—.y., 
one bird, or one egg, from a nest, leaving the remainder for its 
rightful owners. And it was wonderful to note how these 
owners knew exactly what was on their piece of land; they 
were never selfish about its products, but during the superabun- 
dance of any food plants, game, fish, etc., at any particular sea- 
son, would send round for neighbouring families to come and 
make common property of what Nature had so plentifully sup- 
plied them with. Thus also, when the swans were nesting, 
or when a whale was cast ashore, other tribes would come along 
by invitation. 


At puberty, when, as a part of the first initiation ceremony, 
the young men’s noses were bored, certain precepts of wrong 
and right were inculcated ; they subsequently became respon- 
sible for their actions, and other people would no longer fight on 
their behalf. Win-dang expressed the idea of badness, as want- 
ing in common sense, no good, a saucy fellow, one who was re- 
garded rather in the light of a fool for nos; conforming to the 
general usages of the tribe. Asa sobriquet, or as a matter of 
chaff, in drawing attention to any pet weakness, an individual 
was sometimes spoken of as being stone-, or wooden- headed. 
Kwob-ba was the opposite extreme, signifying goodness and 
kindness. It was considered wrong to interfere with a non- 
tribesman unless a fued were on, the stranger being always 
welcome so long as he were well-behaved and courteous. Indeed, 
hospitality was always very marked, but the recipient never 
claimed it ; he would neither come up to the camp, nor even 
light a fire in the close neighbourhood to cook his own raw 
game at, unless invited so to do. A good deal of lying went 
on, but then it must be remembered that they were not expected 
to tell the truth, especially when against their own interests. 


BY WALTER E. ROTH, M.R.C.S., B.A., OXON. 51 


Bon-du signified the truth, ku-thum a lie, and k2-lin a liar. On 
the other hand, there was hardly any cheating; these blacks 
would give to one another practically anything that might be 
envied. Gluttony was regarded as very unpardonable, and in 
this way they were very self-sacrificing ; it was well that such 
was the case indeed, because an individual might be lucky in 
hunting on the one «lay, and yet be unsuccessful on the morrow. 
Only occasionally, and in secret, would the native be gluttonous ; 
thus, an aboriginal contaminated by whites would ask you not 
to give him so-and-so before another, as he would probably have 
to part with it—but such conduct was always considered most 
reprehensible and mean. On the whole, they were a chivalrous 
people, and cowardice brought the delinquent into supreme 
contempt. They were very good to their aged and weak, would 
tend their sick, and carry them about from place to place; if 
circumstances prevented this, some one would be left behind to 
give them every attention. 


A father eould do what he pleased with his own children, 
but neither parent would ever strike a boy ; if beaten, the latter 
was supposed to lose courage. The mother taught her girls, 
looked after their chastity, and, when considered necessary, 
beat them. The grown-up lads slept together, separate from 
the others. 


Among the party of men who landed with R. Austin on 
that coast was a young architect, one Greensell, who was sup- 
posed to resemble one of their tribe lately deceased: the blacks 
immediately gave him the name of wor-kap, that of the deceased 
individual in question. As a rule, they never mentioned the 
names of their deceased, but in this case they believed that this 
young gentleman in question was their own mate returned to 
them in the guise of a white man. Austin subsequently found 
it to be a general impression among them that deceased blacks 
were wont to return to their own habitats in the form and shape 
of whites, and that this was how they accounted for the Kuro- 
peans coming to visit their country. As already mentioned, 
this district had been settled only a few years previously. In 
several places, a similar form of nomenclature in vogue, was 
met with, and Austin invariably did his best to destroy this 
belief of theirs. They also had an idea that the spirit of the 
departed hovered round about the grave, and, though their 
feelings could not be thoroughly analysed, they certainly had a 
fear of approaching it for some time subsequently to burial. At 


52 NOTES ON SAVAGE LIFE, ETC. 


burial, some offerings were left generally in the shape of dam- 
aged weapons, etc (but no food) on the grave itself, while upon 
the bark of neighbouring trees was smeared some red paint, 
(wil-gi), either in complete rings, or horizontally zigzag lines. 
For some few days onwards they would sweep with bushes the 
surrounding ground, so as to track anything in the shape of ® 
visitor, human or animal, and very gratified would they be if 
no tracks were discovered. This brushed part of the grave, 
when once finally completed, was never by any chance subse- 
quently traversed. 


Any doctrine of the transmigration of souls was only 
hinted at in the fact recorded of blacks returning to their homes 
after death in the shape of whites. 


They believed that diseases, of which they could recognise 
no physically pathological origin, were caused by the charms 
of their enemies, or persons whom they had in some way or 
another offended. Such complaints the doctors or medicine men 
professed to cure by various manipulations, massage, etc. 
Thus, if called in attendance, the doctor would leave the camp 
at night with a lighted fire-stick, go away to some considerable 
distance, and extinguish it, and then return sufficiently near 
to be heard. By stretching his cloak over his thighs and fixing 
over his buttocks the ends upon which he sat, he clapped 
upon it with his hands, by this means making no inconsiderable 
noise, which was supposed to either drive away or to appease 
the alleged enemy. Upon returning to his patient he would 
remove a stone or stick by massage, etc., from the part most 
affected. No special huts were constructed by, or for the use of 
the medicine men, whom the tribes, believing them to be 
equally capable of killing or curing, were careful never to offend. 
Ventriloquism was never brought into requisition. 


The natives here were certainly under the firm conviction 
that at night time the carth was permeated with evil spirits, 
whom they feared. Such spirits could be checked or repelled 
by means of fire, and this was one of the chief reasons why, 
in the dark, they would never leave their camps without taking 
a lighted fire-stick with them. In addition, the light precluded 
the possibility of treading upon snakes, etc., unawares. 

Another very common idea amongst these people was that 
there was always something supernatural lying in ambush in 
everp deep water, or in any fairly-sized permanent water-hole— 
some unwritten record of an extraordinarily big crocodile, 


BY WALTER E. ROTH, M.R.C.S., B.A., OXON. 53 


snake, or iguana inhabiting it. They would naturally be averse 
to bathing in such localities, or if they did, would never ven- 
ture far from shore. From cross-examination on different 
occasions, Austin was led to the conclusion that individuals 
having been now and again drowned at these places accounted 
for the superstition—a phenomenon that he could not otherwise 
explain, 

Tribes were not named after any animal, but children at 
the time of birth would be named after a particular animal, 
some circumstance in connection with which may have im- 
pressed the mind of the mother, either during pregnancy or 
about confinement. ‘This was the name by which the child as 
he grew up was referred to in ordinary general conversation. 
Anyone so named would not, at certain seasons of the year, 
partake of his patron-animal, and this quite independently of, 
and additional to, the special dietaries otherwise prescribed for 
him by tribal usage. 


There was no worship of gods of any description, and the 
idea of a Creator of all things was conspicuously absent ; 
similarly there was no sign of any diety connected with the sun, 
moon, stars, or with war. 


Whenever the results of previous experience taught them 
that game and food were sufficiently plentiful, they sent round 
word to their neighbours to come help partake of it. Such an 
occurrence would be the occasion of what might be called a 
festival, when songs would be sung, friendships made and 
cemented, and corrobborees performed. So also when the 
nose-boring of the males took place—the actual operation being 
performed secretly in the daytime—the opportunity was made 
a festive occasion of so many people being present. Otherwise, 
even at the birth of a child, or at marriage, no festivities helped 
to mark the event. There was never any festival of a religious 
character, and nothing in the shape of prayer or sacrifice. 


On the death of a friend, the women (especially the wife 
and family of the deceased) would, with their finger nails, cut 
deep gashes in their foreheads and cheeks, pipe-claying in 
addition the former portion of the face. The men used to 
whiten the forehead simply. 


Women were considered impure and unclean during the 
menstrual period, when they sat apart at a separate fire. 

The position of the corpse, when doubled up before covering 
over with earth, was invariably towards the east. 


54 NOTES ON SAVAGE LIFE, ETC. 


Nothing in the way of special superstitions, other than 
those recorded in these notes, was noticed. That they were 
extremely fond of their dogs goes without saying; so much so 
that women were often observed suckling young puppies. They 
rightly believed that it was the one and the same moon which 
recularly put in an appearance each month. 


Disease and death charms in the hands of doctors and ~ 
alleged enemies have already been drawn! attention to. The 
medicine men mixed up with other individuals like ordinary 
mortals, but were dreaded; as a correlative, they were aware of 
it, and consequently traded upon the credulity of their less- 
witted mates. There were no such things as love charms, 
while the cries of birds and animals (each separately noticeable) 
were taken not so much as omens but as indications of the 
approach of strangers, were they friends or enemies. 


The aboriginals here had no mythic legends or fairy tales, 
but could tell many a witty story relative to incidents that 
had occurred, and principally about individuals. Nothing 
escaped their observation. When crossing a flat one day along 
the bank of a river, where a European was building a hut, 
Austin’s black boy pointed to an ants’ nest, and spoke to the 
following effect: ‘‘ My word! that fellow ant knows more than 
that white fellow man.’ On being asked what he meant, the 
boy explained the dictum on the lines of the settler building his 
humpy below flood-water mark, while the ant constructed its 
nest far above it. 


Children invariably respected their parents as well as their 
wishes. At the ceremony of the nose- boring, the individual 
pledged himself to conform to the general rules of propriety in 
force, certain rules benefiting the whole community—e.y., the 
respect for each other’s property, and the prior right to certain 
portions of the land which the tribe in general acknowledged 
to be theirs. There was a uniform attention to decency, peace, 
and quietness. They were all brought up to supply their own 
wants, manufacture their own weapons, were almost all equally 
proficient in their general ideas, in the pursuit of game, in fight- 
ing, etc. They recognised a head man, on whom a special term 
was conferred, but the office was apparently not necessarily here- 
ditary, and if a ‘‘strong’’ man, he might nominate his successor ; 
he was not always the oldest man in the tribe, but general fitness 
and ability were his characteristics ; he never put on any “side,” 
and he exercised the prerogative upon the death of a tribes- 


BY WALTER E. ROTH, M.R.C.S., B.A., OXON. 55 


man, to either take his widow unto himself, or to confer her 
where he chose. No share in the government was taken by the 
the women, though they often used to stir up strife amongst the 
opposite sex; thus, upon the killing of a man, when doubt 
happened to be expressed as to what concerted action should be 
taken by the tribe collectively, it was the women who, in a 
body, would inflame and incite the men to take measures for 
revenge, and arouse them to precipitate action. It may be 
truly said that the weaker sex were invariably far more quarrel- 
some among themselves than the men. Among themselves the 
men were very good-tempered as a rule. If the younger ones 
attempted to start any row, the elders would remonstrate with, 
and their friends restrain, them. ‘The angered individuals 
would be held back with their elbows to the sides,. their mates 
putting their arms round them from behind ; though the would- 
be assailants might kick and bite, they were firmly held. It 
was the difference of sex, the gratification of the grand passion, 
and personal applause which constituted the main causes of all 
strife and dispute. 


Hach family in the tribe had its own territorial division, 
its own ka-la or ‘‘ fire-place,”’ to which it had a prior right, 
the land being divided ultimately among the sons upon the 
death of the owner. Though the game was in no sense pre- 
served, each person knew what there actually was on his own 
possessions, what birds’ nests, etc.—very much in the same 
manner as a Huropean knows the contents of his garden. When 
anything showed itself in abundance, the neighbours, etc., would 
be asked to come over and partake. 


All being equal, and all being armed, one man was as 
good as another, hence, as a rule, they behaved themselves one 
to the other, and, having no fear of death, when they did fight 
they meant business, and never threatened without a fulfil- 
ment. In the case of serious offences, or when inter-tribal in- 
terests were concerned, the camp council decided upon the form 
of procedure and the mode of punishment. Mutilation or 
flogging was never inflicted, and justice, as a rule, was adminis- 
tered with clemency. In the case of, wilful murder, incest, etc., 
the culprit would pay the death penalty somewhat on the fol- 
lowing lines :—Standing out with one leg forward, a spear was 
‘jobbed ”’ into the inner side of the back of the advanced thigh ; 
the femoral artery was thus damaged, and in four or five min- 


56 NOTES ON SAVAGE LIFE, ETC. 


utes the culprit had bled to death. He accepted his death with 
a dignified calm, and, if an ex-tribesman, he could elect to be 
killed by his own people. A wife’s murder by her husband 
might be sometimes condoned, though he could legally be put 
to death by her relatives ; the condonation was not infrequently 
granted in those cases where the woman had belonged to some 
other tribe from whom she had originally been stolen. In all 
cases it was the lex talionis which was enforced, and the fol- 
lowing example which came under Austin’s notice, may not 
prove without interest. Two blackboys were attached to his 
camp, and to the elder, about 15 years of age, he gave a gun. 
They went away shooting one day, when the elder accidentally 
shot the younger, who was walking behind, and killed him 
The news spread like wildfire, and the other blacks immediately 
wanted to kill the survivor, although the fact of its being a 
pure accident was well known; yet it was the law of a life for 
a life. Austin naturally demurred, said it was not fair, that he 
had determined to protect the boy, and warned them that if 
they dared to use force or violence in getting him away, they 
would have to take the consequences. They hung round the 
camp for several days in considerable numbers, crying and 
mourning for the deceased in the meantime. At last a few of 
them came to Austin and expressed themselves as satisfied if 
he would allow the boy to be speared “ just a little bit,” so as 
not actually to kill him, and explained that it would be far 
better for him to give them this permission than to run the 
risk of letting the boy escape then, only to be speared to death 
on some subsequent occasion. Austin thereupon talked the 
matter over with his dusky protegé, who willingly signified his 
approval, considering, on the whole, that it was a very easy 
‘let off.”’ Having informed the other blacks of his consent to 
the boy being speared in the buttock, as they had themselves 
suggested, Austin nevertheless gave them distinctly to under- 
stand that he should be present at the infliction of the punish- 
ment with his men and guns, and that if they even attempted 
to do anything else than what they had promised, he would 
let fire. When the time arrived, the blacks formed a circle 
around him with the boy. Three of the former, fully armed 
with their spears and accoutrements, stepped forwards into the 
ring, placed the alleged delinquent in proper position, with one 
leg much in advance of the other, and, resting a spear upon a 
wommera held vertically against the hip, ‘‘jobbed” it through 


Proc. Roy. Soc. Q’nanp, Vou. xvii. Puate VY. 


BY WALTER E. ROTH, M.R.C.S., B.A., OXON. 57 


the buttock (Plate V’., fig. a). The poor wretch clenched his 
teeth in agony, but stood it firmly, and did not break down until 
all the men around began to sob and cry, when they all in a body 
rushed up to kiss and slobber over him. 


With regard to the general custom of salutation, men used 
to kiss one another on the cheek, and hug one another. There 
was no osculation among the women. After long absences, 
they would rejoice over the return of the wanderer, who re- 
counted to them the numerous adventures he had had, whom he 
had seen, how successful he had been in hunting, and anything 
curious that had come under his observation. In addition, he 
would illustrate in propria persona all that he thought might 
prove of interest—in one case, under Austin’s observation, go- 
ing so far as to imitate the waltzing of the whites. As a rule, 
these blacks used to get up comparatively late of a morning, 
unless compelled by want of food, or for any special purpose; e.g. 
to collect the mangaitch before the ants got at the honey. The 
young were always reproved and kept in order, but the boys 
were never beaten. Their sense of decency was parallel with 
our own; they never spoke with strangers concerning their 
sexual relationships, and it was only the younger males who 
talked filth. Their moral deportment was creditable to them 
ya every way, with the exception that if a bachelor friend 
asked his married friend for the temporary loan of his wife as a 
great favour (especially as the lady was usually agreeable), the 
husband’s consent was generally given. 


The old men taught the young ones at initiation which diets 
to avoid; they reserved to themselves as elders, and as heads 
of families, such diet scales which were only rarely met with, 
or were considered special delicacies. In addition, for each 
individual, food was always refrained from when it happened 
to be anything in connection with that according to which his 
birth name had been given. ‘There was no particular food 
tabu to any of the four special divisions of the tribe. The 
names of people deceased were avoided, and as a rule any re- 
ference (except by the younger males) to sexual matters dis- 
couraged. Certain water-holes and graves were also tabu. 


In trading with other tribes, all that they could barter in 
exchange were their spears, made from the local ‘‘ spear-wood,”’ 


which grew plentifully in the close neighbourhood of the coastal 
G 


58 NOTES ON SAVAGE LIFE, ETC., 


swamps. What they received in return included the follow- 
ing :— 

(a) A sort of red ochre, wil-gi, which was used with fat 
for smearing over the body. 

(5) Fragments of crystalline quartz, bwor-ral, for sticking 
into their spears, which, with the advent of the whites, was 
subsequently replaced by glass. This quartz came from the 
Darling Ranges. 

(c) Stone-tomahawks (kod-ja) ; also from the ranges. 

(72) Wommeras (mi-ra) ; manufactured of the ‘ raspberry 
jam ’’ Acacia,* from beyond the ranges, in the Avon district. 

(ec) Throwing-sticks (dau-ak) ; made of similar wood, and 
from the same district. 

(7) Cork-wood shields (hi-la-man) ; also from the Avon. 

There were no special individuals or actual traders for 


carrying on the exchanges, but they would proceed to their par- 
ticular market whenever they considered the amount of food 
available there would be sufficient for the wants of all who 
might be present. There was never among particular tribes- 
men any principle of association, special sharing, or distinctive 
trademarks. Letter sticks were in vogue, but the messenger — 
himself took the message verbally. These sticks, about two 
inches long, were pointed at each end, and squared in their 
length, very much after the style of an English boy's tip-eat. 
They were carried in the hair just over the ear. Made of some 
light coloured wood, which did not ordinarily change colour, 
they bore incised upon them certain marks which might have 
been aids to memory, but they were absolutely nothing more. 
When the messenger happened to be charged with messages 
from different peoplee, the marks would be cut by the various 
individuals interested. 

Distance traversed during the day was measured by the 
elevation of the sun. Measures and weights were only hinted 
at by speaking of anything as being large or small, long or 
short, light or heavy, no fixed standards being recognised. 

When on the track of an adversary, a black would not 
challenge his enemy, unless observed; he rather preferred to 
steal upon him asleep or awake, though they would both prove 
very bold and determined if it so chanced that they met in 
the open. In the case of inter-tribal warfare, each party came 


* A. acuminata, Benth. 


BY WALTER E. ROTH, M.R.C,S., B.A., OXON. 59 


to the attack in open rank, the tribesmen standing side by side ; 
prisoners were not taken captive, but all killed. 


Hunting parties, when game was plentiful, were often 
formed, and all the spoil invariably divided impartially and 
fairly. 

Their migrations were certainly dependent upon the scarcity 
or plenty of the animals they hunted, their nomadic habits 
being thus easily accounted for. 


As a general rule, a wife was very happy and obedient ; 
indeed, she had to be civil to her husband, as otherwise 
she might expect a crack on the head or a spear thrust through 
her calf. 


There was no special marriage ceremony, beyond the 
betrothal of a girl by her parents, and in this matter the mother 
would appear to have always had an important say. Of course 
there were certain group divisions of the tribe into which 
marriage could or could not take place. At any rate the 
betrothal often gave rise to many troubles. Faith might be 
broken by the parents, the girl herself might like somebody 
better, and ask him to steal her, or the man might not care to 
tarry awhile, and consequently set about stealing someone else— 
and thus a row would commence. This stealing of a wife 
constituted a very primitive measure. The bridegroom, in posse, 
would just knock her on the head, or spear her in the leg, if she 
refused to join him, though, in addition, he might have to fight 
for her with some individual who considered he had a prior 
claim. Punishment for this course of conduct, if the lady were 
a tribeswoman, was spearing in the thigh. Should it, however, 
prove to be a case of incest (7.¢., either too close consanguinity, 
or an infringement of the tribal regulations re marriageable 
groups), the gay Lothario would be put to death. A man could 
have up to as many as four wives, with usually a hut for each ; 
but in such cases it must be borne in mind that some of these 
women might very probably have been his brothers’ widows, 
to whom he had a legal right. A wife entered the tribe of 
her husband, if of foreign origin. Divorce was not recognised 
as an institution, but if a woman could not hit it off 
amicably, she would tempt some other fellow to steal her 
from her husband. Men were invariably kind to their mothers- 
in-law. 

A widow was taken to wife by the elder brother of her 
deceased husband; if this arrangement were inconvenient, or 


60 NOTES ON SAVAGE LIFE, ETC., 


she happened to be too old a body, her own blood-sons would 
look after her, or failing them, her daughters; the sons, how- 
ever, were always first in their attentions. 


Infanticide was not practised, nor was anything specially 
done with twins when they put in an appearance. 


The conditions of marriage might be shortly expressed as 
suitable group relationship, stealth, or betrothal, and the attain- 
ing of the nose-boring initiation ceremony, which took place 
sometime subsequent to puberty. They had a very general idea 
that a man was always more courageous before matrimony than 
after; and, as owing to the comparative paucity of eligible 
women, the getting of a wife very often proved a constant source 
of feud, the older men were always discouraging the younger 
ones from entering the married state. On an average, there 
were about six men required to provide by hunting, for the wants 
of every two women (with children). Of the latter, the majority 
would appear to have died before reaching middle age; the pro- 
portion of two or three young women to every old one, being 
pretty constant. Three or four children would not uncommonly 
be noticed as belonging to one mother, who might be seen 
suckling more than one of her infants at a time. 


Children were taught how to climb trees as well as the 
use and exercise of arms; they learnt to throw spears by prac- 
tising on small reeds, etc., to commence with. They were cer- 
tainly not instructed in the manufacture of the different weapons, 
but apparently did this by imitation, though they might 
occasionally get instruction and assistance from their fathers. 
The mother would look after the education of her girls, teach- 
ing them how, when, and where to dig for roots, yams, etc., and 
also how to prepare the different foods. Tracking was never 
actually taught; the aboriginals apparently picked it up as time 
went on. 


A very common game played by both little girls and 
boys, up to 8 or 10 years of age, consisted in throwing along 
the ground, with a peculiar turn of the wrist, a more or less 
ovate-shaped piece of bark, and throwing a 6ft. reed at it as it 
spun. 


Among the elders and at the camp-fires a man would often 
stand forward with his wommera and recite some adventure of 
his, telling all about what he had done, and often what he 
hadn’t done, what prowess he showed under the circumstances, 


BY WALTER E. ROTH, M.R.C.S., B.A., OXON. 61 


and what a brave man he was. This form of self-adulation was 
very common, and after his hearers had applauded another man 
would take his place, and give a similar recitation culled 
from his autobiographical memoirs. Even when starting out 
from camp of a morning, surrounded only by his own immediate 
family, a black, after shaking his spears, would very generally 
tell his wife and children what he intended doing during the 
day; how many kangaroos, etc., he proposed bringing home ; 
how he would fight any one who dared oppose him, and vaunted 
himself upon his pluck, courage and endurance. Indeed, judg- 
ing from what these aboriginals said of themselves, their lives 
must have been quite Homeric. In the ordinary corrobborees, 
which always took place in the neighbourhood of the camp 
about a couple of hours after sundown, the men only took 
part, while the dancing was of a stamping movement; the 
reverberation of the sandy ground was once indicated by the 
mercury in Austin’s artificial horizon when at a distance of fully 
over a hundred yards. As decoration, feather down was stuck 
over their faces and bodies upon the stripes of red ochre grease, 
and pipe-clay. The plays usually performed represented emu 
and kangaroo-hunting, etc., though various other personal 
adventures, with embellishments, were depicted. The audience 
at these entertainments consisted in the main of women, 
children and old men. Some of the women in the squatting 
position beat time with the flats of their hands, or with sticks, 
upon the cloaks stretched tightly across their knees. Others 
again would stand up and beat their yam-sticks, etc., held 
crosswise over their heads. 


They never employed roads or bridges, though, for instance, 
a log lying (not placed designedly) across a creek might be 
utilised for the purpose. They were expert swimmers, hand- 
over-hand fashion, like a dog. When on land their ordinary 
property did not consist of anything more than what they 
could carry. On the walk-about, halts were made generally 
at some very dry stage, the nature of the timber giving them 
some good idea of the substratum. When ‘at home,” the 
increasing remnants of old refuse, the superfluity of- ants, or 
scarcity of food in general, were causes operating to compel 
them to shift the sites of their camps. The general arrange- 
ment of the camp itself was crescentic, with the ‘‘horns”’ 
towards the fires ; each hut, from a few to a score of yards apart 


62 NOTES ON SAVAGE LIFE, ETC., 


had its own fire burning at about a yard to a yard and a-half in 
front of the entrance. Permission had to be asked and obtained 
before travellers were allowed within the precincts. In travel- 
ling, the men went in front, generally in single file, the women 
bringing up the rear some sixty or seventy yards behind. The 
former carried the weapons, and any game that might have 
been caught during the day, while the latter burdened them- 
selves with all the remaining property. Some of the particularly 
old men—this was certainly never observed among the younger 
ones—used to carry a small dilly-bag over the left shoulder, 
‘hanging in the armpit; this contained red ochre, pieces of 
crystalline quartz (for the spears, etc.), gum, and hair. Their 
powers of rendering the voice distinct and intelligible over 
comparatively great distances were remarkable. ‘They could 
both speak and reply. In one case that came particularly 
under Austin’s observation, over an estuary quite one and a-half 
miles wide, where they would ascend a tree to a height of about 
20 feet, the better so to do, the voice of conversation in 
that particular instance was carefully modulated rather 
than high-pitched, though the initial sound to attract attention 
was a sharp shout. 


The red ochre, wil-gi, was rubbed up in the hand dry, 
or pounded with a stone to a fine powder. It was also 
subsequently mixed with snake’s entrail or iguana fat held at 
the end of a stick over a fire. Supposing now that our 
individual in question was about to take his departure on a visit 
elsewhere, etc., he would arrange his toilet somewhat after the 
following fashion :—After seeing that his weapons and accoutre- 
ments were all in good condition, and removing his head and 
belly strings, he would put the wil-gi powder into his left hand, 
and then with the right thumb dab it in rings round his chest, 
arms, thighs and legs. Admiring himself, he would take up a 
spear and wommera, shake them in defiance at an imaginary 
foe, and probably sing a song concerning his own prowess, his 
wife, of course, telling him all the time what a fine, noble 
fellow he looked, and how that he was by far the better of the 
two. In this mood of supreme self-satisfaction he would squat 
down, and with some fat smear the whole of his body and limbs 
until the skin showed a uniform appearance of a greasy vermil- 
lion colour. Singing all the time, he would finally red-ochre 
grease the head and belly strings before putting them on again. 


BY WALTER E. ROTH, M.R.C.S., B.A., OXON. 63 


The former was first of all wound round the head once or twice, 
and the hair turned up, then another circle or two, and more 
hair turned up, until at last the whole of the hair was fixed in 
the form of an upstanding tuft. He would now consider himself 
suitably dressed to make a start from camp. 


The wife used to paint herself on similar lines, especially 
if they were a happy couple, and they shared each other's joys 
and sorrows. 


The grease-paint, in addition to serving a decorative pur- 
pose, was useful in keeping away the ants, sandflies, and other 
insects. The renewal of the painting process depended greatly 
upon the supply of the ochre itself, and whether for the purpose 
of paying a visit to another camp, they were desirious of 
appearing at their best. It was not done every day, but if 
they were young men and fancied themselves, they would renew 
it as often as the inclination took them. 


Raised sears, ‘‘ keloids,’’ or ‘‘ flash ’’ marks were always to be 
seen in the males on the breast and arms, sometimes on the 
back and shoulders, but never on the thighs. On the chest 
they were each about 2 ins. long, lying in horizontal rows one 
below the other as far down as the pit of the stomach. Austin 
observed the scars to be originally made as small scratches, 
and into each saw them rub ‘dirt,’ the particular nature 
of which he omitted to enquire about. The women were not 
so strongly marked in front. The keloids here lay rather 
in between the two breasts, and reached below as far as the 
navel. 


They wore a cloak, bo-ka, made of kangaroo hide (some- 
times with a collar some 5 ins. or Gins. deep, which fell over) 
hanging to just below the knee, and shorter in front than be- 
hind. It was worn with the hairy side in, and was coloured on 
the outside with the wil-gi. It was made of some seven 
or eight gores (Plate V., riy. b), wider below than above, each pre- 
pared from a skin by pegging it out, preparing with ashes, scraping 
with quartz, and then thcroughly greasing until perfectly soft. The 
separate gores were sewn together, either with kangaroo tail 
sinew, or else with rushes, the separate holes for their insertion 
being made with a piece of pointed bone (Plate V., jig. c). 
The ends of the cloak, which was worn differently in the 
two sexes (Plate V., jiy. d), were fixed together at the top 
of the right shoulder by means of a toggle and grummet 


64 NOTES ON SAVAGE LIFE, ETC., 


(Plate V., fig e). These cloaks were always worn in the winter 
time, the wet season, i.c., June, July, and especially August. 
If the parents chose to take the trouble they would clothe their 
children with similar garments ; otherwise, the little ones would 
have to make shift as best they could, each with a single skin. 


In the cold weather it was a common thing for the adults 
to carry a lighted fire-stick under their mantles, to keep the 
lower portion of the abdomen warm ; this stick was held in the 
left hand, in between two pieces of bark, just like a coal in a 
pair of tongs, and as it got burnt up, another would be picked 
up and lighted as they went along. 


In connection with personal ornaments, it may be men- 
tioned at the outset that married women wore nothing except 
the cloak ; it was only the young, unmarried women and the 
little children who occasionally sported necklaces in the form of 
two or three rings of threaded grass-reed beads. Even the 
various accoutrements to be immediately described as pertaining 
to the men did not constitute any sort of corrobboree dress, 
but were the ‘‘fashion ’’ when travelling, or paying a visit to 
one’s neighbours. When necessary, the hair was cut with a 
sharp quartz stone, but never cropped as short as the women’s ; 
the men cut their whiskers from between the ear and angle 
of the jaw, so as to leave a beard and moustache, while some of 
the older ones especially shaved the moustache only. There 
was never avulsion of any teeth; the nose was bored, but the 
wearing of the nose-pin exceptional. 


(a) The ka-ta-band (cf. kata—the head) was a piece of 
red-coloured opposum string, as thick as ordinary twine, wound 
across the upper portion of the forehead, the thirty or forty 
coils round the head forming a thick band about one and a-half 
inches wide. 


(b) A dingo tail was often tied round over the kataband, 
while 


(c) A bunch of feathers was often stuck into it. This bunch 
was formed of the pinnules pulled from the stems of white 
cockatoo or emu feathers, all tied tightly into a bundle, through 
which a wooden skewer was plunged. 


(/) There was an armlet, always on the left arm, formed 
of red opossum string, wound round and round at least a score 
of times. Underneath it a bunch of feathers, without any 


BY WALTER E. ROTH, M.R,C.S., B.A., OXON. 65. 


skewer, was usually tucked ; otherwise this bunch was fastened 
under the waist-belt at the loins. 


(ec) The belly-string or waist-band, uul-ban, or nul-band, 
was formed similarly of a great length of red opossum twine, 
coiled around so as to form a solid mass, quite 24 to 8 inches 
wide, and 4 inch thick; in this they carried their tomahawk 
(kod-ja) behind, and their boomerang (kai-li) on the left side. 


Besides the nasal and cicatricial mutilations already re- 
ferred to there was nothing worthy of note, no circumcision was 
practised, though the latter rite was prevalent at the time up at 
Champion Bay, some 300 miles to the northward. On the 
other hand, the prepuce was always well forward with marked 
crinkles at the extremity. Children up to five or six years of 
age were often noticed to have what was apparently umbilical 
hernia, but this deformity was never observed among the 
adults. 


The striking of the skins or cloaks stretched across their 
knees, either with sticks or with the hands, as well as the tin- 
tinabulation of the yam-sticks hit crosswise over their heads, 
was the only primitive form of music noticeable. 


There were no canoes, or any signs of them. 


As a rule, these people lived in the open in this temperate, 
beautiful climate, though in wet, wintry weather they used 
huts, and occasionally protected themselves from the violence of 
blowing winds by means of ‘“‘ break winds.’”’ The huts were of 
two varieties, according as they were built of grass-tree leaves, 
or with bark, the choice of ‘ timber ’’ depending upon its tempo- 
rary abundance or scarcity. When made of grass-tree—and 
these were from five to six feet high, about four or five feet in 
diameter, with a floor-level unaltered trom the surrounding 
ground-surface—some fourteen or fifteen peduncles were stuck 
into the sand, at pretty well equal distances apart (except 
where the entrance was subsequently to be), and fixed together 
at their apices, so as to form a kind of cone-shaped scaffolding. 
The grass-tree leaves—-about eighteen inches long, and one six- 
teenth of an inch thick—having been collected from the trees, 
and carried in the bend of the left elbow, were then dropped in 
handfuls with the right hand into the sand, points downwards ; 
each handful, it must be borne in mind, was not thrown verti- 
cally, but at an angle. The whole row round having been com- 
pleted, a second layer was commenced, but this time the 


66 NOTES ON SAVAGE LIFE, ETC., 


bundles were fixed at an anyle with those of the first, the leaves 
interlacing with one another as in a cheval-de-frise ; the third 
layer would have its constituent leaves of course placed in the 
same direction as the first (Plute VI., /iy..f), and so on alternately, 
until getting higher and higher, they became wedged in between 
the gradually narrowing interspaces left by the peduncles. As the 
structure proceeded, the builder himself would occasionally from 
the inner side look out for any weak spots which were located by 
the light coming through ; he would then start again from the 
bottom so as to act as a foundation for what was necessary to 
put in to fill up the gap. 


When the grass-tree leaves were at all scarce, these abori- 
ginals built themselves bark huts, their primary scaffolding of 
which consisted of two forked sticks, and a backstay; if the 
latter were forked, so much the better. The secondary scaffold- 
ing was formed of two thick pieces attached each from about 
the middle of the back-stay to the lower end of the main-stay, 
while cross-wise were placed (not tied) several additional sticks, 
which together supported the final covering of bark-sheets. The 
bark was put on from below up, the pieces above overlapping 
the ones underneath ; on top of all, along the line of the back- 
stay, was fixed a projecting bark ridgecap (Plate V1., fig. 9). 


The break-wind was a semi-circular ring of bushes inter- 
twined with a few additional ones hanging overhead at the 
centre. 


Fire was produced by twirling a stick, held vertically, on 
to another stick fixed horizontally, the wood so employed being 
the grass-tree peduncle. The flat surface on the horizontal 
piece was bitten out with the teeth, upon it the vertical piece 
was twirled, and as soon as the ‘‘ pit’? was produced a nick was 
cut, so as to connect it with the surface edge. Within this 
same nick was next placed some of the powdered ‘ fluff” (from 
the dried-up flowers on the peduncle-top), which acted as a sort 
of train to the fine dry shreds of fibre (scraped from the inside 
of a dead log) lying close below. As soon as the smoke ap- 
peared, this ‘‘ sawdust ’’ or ‘‘ tinder” was fanned into flame by a 
gentle breath. If the necessary timber for manufacturing these 
firesticks ever proved at all unsuitable through wet, or scarce, 
the lighted sticks would be carried along under the men’s or 
women’s cloaks. 


Proc. Roy. Soc. Q’tanp, Vou. xvit. Pram VI. 


) MMU J 


4 


BY WALTER E. ROTH, M.R.C.8., B.A., OXON. 67 


Opossum string was manufactured as follows, and by the 
males only: From a heap of opossum hair well rubbed together, 
at his left side, the operator would pick up a piece, roll it up 
and down his left outer thigh, in squatting position, with corre- 
sponding hand, and, fixing it length to length, roll the string so 
formed on to a distaff with his right hand. This distaff was 
formed of two round pieces of stick, each about 3 inches long, 
tied crosswise, the shape of a cross. The string itself was of 
single strand, and not in any sense too strong. They further 
used for sewing purposes, when sinews, etc., were not available, 
a piece of jointless rush, a very tough kind of wire-grass without 
any blades on it. Austin never saw any human hair per se used 
as string, but often observed them employing longish strands 
of it, mixed with grass-tree gum, for fixing the sharpened shell 
into their wommeras, the barbs on to their spears, etc., The 
fixing process in these cases consisted in tying first of all with 
hair, then covering with a coating of gum, and heating; again 
more hair, more gum, heat, and so on. 


Up to the time of the advent of the Europeans they never 
manufactured nets. The nearest approach to anything of this 
sort was the basket-work arrangement at the end of a wallaby 
drive, formed of thin sticks stuck into the ground, and then 
wattled horizontally in and out with rushes. 


The dilly-bag (go-ta) was used by the women only, slung 
up by a piece of string, and carried round the neck, so as to 
hang down over the back. It was formed of a long piece of 
dressed kangaroo skin, folded over, and sewn at the sides, leav- 
ing just a slight cover. 


Omitting for the present the specially-constructed weapon 
for catching emu, these people had three varieties of spear— 
ked-ji, all made from a very hard and straight wattle, the tim- 
ber of which gave the name to the instrument; the process of 
manufacture was simple, the sapling being just stripped of its 
bark, which left it a bit ‘‘ribby,” then scraped where necessary, 
and subsequently straightened by holding it over some heated 
ashes, and bending it with the teeth and hands into the required 
shape. They were all about 10 feet long, and from 4 inch to 
& inch in diameter, with a rounded point about 6 inches long, 
and invariably thrown with the wommera. Such a one consti- 
tuted a fish-spear. The quartz-spear bore along a vertical 
length of the tip numerous pieces of quartz crystal, subsequently 


68 NOTES ON SAVAGE LIFE, ETC., 


replaced by glass, fixed in position with gum. The barbed 
spear had tacked on to it, about an inch or two from the point, 
by means of hair and gum, a spatulate concave piece of wood, 
about 2 inches long, wider at its free than at its fixed extremity- 
The blacks each ordinarily carried about with them during the 
day one quartz-, one fish-, and two barbed spears ; if on the war- 
path, the fish-spear would be discarded for an additional quartz 
one. 


The wommera (tni-ra) (Plate VI., fiy. h) was formed of a per- 
fectly flat piece of any hard wood, cut into a leaf-shape pattern ; it 
was about 2 feet long, 4 inches or 5 inches wide, and 4 inch to inch 
thick. Both extremities were covered with hair and gum; a kan- 
garoo tooth fixed at the distal extremity acted as the hook, whilea 
piece of concave-edged shell, firmly planted into the haft late- 
rally, played the part of spear scraper and sharpener. 


The tomahawk (kod-ja) (Plate VI., jig. i) consisted of a 
handle 8 inches or 9 inches long, each with two stones fixed on 
opposite sides with gum and hair, at first sight giving the impres- 
sion of there being but one; the exposed edge of one of these stones 
was comparatively rough and blunt, while that of the other was 
ground fairly fine, The width across, at their extreme edges, 
was quite 5 inches, and its gross thickness about 14 inch, 
This implement was particularly used in the climbing of trees. 
The rough stone-edge was used for smashing or bruising the 
bark to get a firmer foothold, while the sharper was employed 
for actual cutting; the lower end of the handle, previously 
hardened with fire and sharply pointed, was jobbed into the 
tree more or less horizontally, and, held close to its insertion, 
afforded the climber not only a means of steadying himself, but 
also of advancing. When not in actual use the implement was 
carried on the loins, under the waist band, the handle hanging 
along the upper portion of the fold of the buttocks. 


Boomerangs (kai-li) were made of the ‘‘ jam-wood” Acacia, 
a tree which grew favourably for the required shape. They 
bore no regular pattern in the way of marks beyond some zig- 
zags and strongly incised straight lines, and sometimes these 
were absent altogether. Older men used them for fighting pur- 
poses, younger men for throwing at birds, etc. Austin never 
observed an individual carrying more than one of these weapons 
at a time. 


BY WALTER E. ROTH, M.R.C.S., B.A., OXON. 69 


The ordinary yam-stick (won-na) was a rounded piece of 
wood, not quite as thick as a broom-handle, about 6 feet long, 
scraped, and hardened with fire at one extremity. Though 
primarily devised for digging up roots and yams, the women also 
used it for fighting purposes, in the procedure of which they 
adopted three lines of defence: held with both hands vertically, 
to the right, to the left, and horizontally over the head. 

Nothing was observed on the immediate coastline here 
with regard to rock carvings, mural paintings, etc., though 
Austin discovered some beautiful examples subsequently on the 
Murchison. 

They were not an emotional people, and were able to ex- 
press themselves by signs, independently of speech. The show- 
ing of the teeth, with the beard firmly clatched in between, was 
a common gesture indicative of anger, and the likelihood of a 
row. 

Austin does not believe that there were ever more than 
from twelve to twenty heads of families constituting the groups, 
each with its particular territorial divisions, who together made 
up the tribe, extending between the Murray River and Koom- 
bana Bay. They evidently avoided too close intermarriage. 

On the whole these primitive people were amenable to the 
standard of honour imposed by their tribe; they were equally 
expert in the use of weapons, and, while restrained by those 
unwritten laws which tended to maintain order and insure the 
general comfort of the community, they were prepared to fight 
to the death, and go coolly and deliberately to mortal combat in 
the face of all men. 


U 
s 4 
- a ~ = 


» A Ce 
cs. 
iy Ae Ta) AP a ae ee * i 
y ‘ ‘A 


NEW ENGLAND (N.S.W)). 


REMINISCENCES DURING THE FIFTIES. 


PART 1. 


By the Hon. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 


(Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 12th April, 1902). 


Karty in the fifties I made my first acquaintance with the New 
England district of New South Wales. ‘Travelling now is very 
different to travelling half a century ago. Australia had no 
railways at the time to which I refer. There were coaches on 
some of the principal roads, but as a rule, those persons who: 
wished to move from one district to another used their own 
conveyances when they needed vehicles. Most of them rode 
from place to place, and on the whole, this was the best means 
of locomotion, because what by courtesy were called roads, 
were merely rough bush tracks. The friend with whom I made 
this my first trip from Sydney to the south-eastern part of 
New England, had a couple of horses of his own, one of which 
carried a pack-saddle and our extra clothing, etc. I had 
secured a useful horse for myself, and one evening, at about: 
10 o’clock, we left the A.S.N. Company’s old wharf in 
Darling Harbour for the Hunter River. I refrain from refer- 
ring too particularly to that sea trip. Many persons in 
those days were well acquainted with the s.s. Rose, Thistle and 
. Shamrock, and my own experiences were like those of others. 
We passed in under Nobby’s in the early morning, steamed 
steadily up the Hunter River, and were glad to be put ashore 
at about 11 a.m., at Raymond Terrace, where we spent the 
rest of the day. Fairly early next morning we got 
away from the hotel, and started for Stroud, 384 miles 
distant. This was not much of a day’s journey, and the 


72 NEW ENGLAND (N.S.W.), ETC., 


country was comparatively uninteresting ; the road was unmade 
and dusty, and very few settlers had attempted to make homes 
within sight of it. So we plodded along until about noon we 
arrived at a house of refreshment! We were served with bread, 
salt beef, and tea; our horses found some indifferent hay in 
the stables. After an hour or so had been spent here, we 
jogged along again, and before sunset arrived at the prettily 
situated township called Stroud, which is part of the freehold 
estate of the Australian Agricultural Company. This Company 
isa rich one. It had a capital of £1,000,000 to start with in 
1825, and the Government granted it, in fee-simple, an acre of 
land for each £1 of its capital. A number of the Company’s 
principal officials lived at Stroud, and there were a few other 
residents there. But it was not a populous place by any means, 
and our evening was quiet and uneventful. A glance at the 
map of New South Wales will show that Stroud is not a very 
great distance from Port Stephens. 


My companion was Mr. Frederic Morton, the managing 
partner in Waterloo Station, recently purchased from Captain 
Thornton. He was a capital fellow, and the spring mornings 
were lovely. We brought up our horses from the dewy pad-- 
dock, saddled up, and after a modest breakfast, got away for 
Gloucester, about 30 miles distant. The signs of settlement 
were fewer this day than the previous one, but the country 
was more interesting, and not quite so flat. The birds, too, 
were more numerous and cheerful. Bell-birds and coach-whips 
whistled to us from the brushy-banked creeks, and a number 
of others greeted us pleasantly as our presence became known 
to them. We rested this day for lunch at a point where the 
Stroud-Gloucester and the Dungog-Gloucester roads unite, 
and were supplied with a very good meal of very homely fare, 
all of which, to a youngster just from school like myself, was 
delightful. That Dungog road I travelled several times in 
after years, and rough enough it was; and the Williams River, 
on which Dungog is situated, I have found more than disagree- 
able when it has been in flood; but this is a digression. After 
the pangs of hunger had been appeased, we started again on our 
journey, arriving at Gloucester before sunset. In the Art Gal- 
lery at Sydney, there is a fine picture in water-colours, by Conrad 
Martens, of what I think he calls ‘‘ The Crags.’’ These pic- 
turesque rock-crowned mountains are a mile or so from Lavers’ 
accommodation house, the Gloucester River, and an open 


BY THE HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 73 


alluvial flat almost filling up the intervening space. At all 
times the view of the hills, but especially at sunset, by moon- 
light, and in the early morning, is very beautiful from the 
front veranda. At the period I write of, the population of 
Gloucester was extremely limited, for it, too, belonged to the 
A. A. Company, and the directors did not part with their land 
for a irifle. 


The next day’s journey was more interesting in many re- 
spects. Shortly after starting we crossed the Gloucester River, 
a small stream except in time of flood. About 12 miles further 
on we crossed the Barrington, which runs swiftly, and in flood 
is a source of great danger. After crossing it we followed the 
road through the paddocks, in which were then pastured the 
pure-bred Durham cows, for the increase from which the 
Company obtained very substantial prices. These were in 
charge of Mr. Clarke, and his house was the only dwelling- 
place between Gloucester and Giro, our next halting place. 
Soon after leaving the pure-breds’ paddocks we crossed the 
Manning River. From this point onwards high ranges closed 
in upon the road, and these added largely to the beauty of 
the otherwise picturesque scenery. In the 32 miles traversed 
that day we had twenty-eight river crossings, and were not 
sorry when, about sunset, we sighted the Giro accommodation 
house—a lonely dwelling beside the Barnard River. The road 
we had travelled was, comparatively speaking, a new one. A 
few years later I had occasion to travel by the same route 
from the Tableland to the coast. This was in 1857, the year 
that was for a long time known as the “big flood’’ year 
in the Hunter River; the year in which the Dunbar was 
wrecked on the rocks under the Gap, near the South Head 
of Port Jackson. In the shady spots in the high land of New 
England, patches of snow were still unmelted a fortnight after 
the storm, this at an altitude of about 8,500 feet. Branches 
of trees littered the roads everywhere ; branches broken off 
by the weight of snow which had hung upon them. On that 
occasion I found two friends at Giro who had been detained 
by the floods. We waited another day there, and then took 
the Company's old mule track along the sides and over the 
spurs of the mountain ranges, thus avoiding the worst of the 
river crossings. This track was exceedingly rough and stony, 
but we were assured that it was smooth compared with the 


track which was first in use. Along the streams there were 
H 


74 NEW ENGLAND (N.S.W.), ETC. 


great numbers of river oaks. Hundreds of these had been laid 
flat by the flood waters, and in places the crossings were so 
blocked by them that we had to cut our way through them 
with an axe which we carried with us for that purpose. We 
reached Gloucester that evening, long after dark, but without 
mishap. 

Little had been done to improve the grazing capabilities 
of the country in those days. In 1876 I travelled from New 
England and back by the same route. It was known as the 
Port Stephens’ road, and up to that year, on Giro alone, 94,000 
acres, I was told, had been ringbarked ! 


Early in the morning, on my first trip, we went out after 
our horses, which, as there was no paddcck, we had hobbled. 
We got away in good time, however, and in a couple of hours 
were at the foot of Hungry Hill, the rough place of the jour- 
ney. I had been told that Hungry Hill was very steep and 
very rough, but was not prepared for the reality. We rode up 
the lower part of the hill; then we dismounted, and led our 
horses, which, like ourselves, were not reluctant to have a few 
minutes’ breathing time at frequent intervals. The road was 
a mere bush track, covered with loose stones, and the ascent 
occupied nearly two hours. Some money was spent upon it 
by the Government a few years later, and the first to drive 
down in a dogeart and back again was ‘‘ Tom ”’ Rusden, who, 
for many years was in charge of Frederick Huth’s station, 
Europambela. Some others afterwards risked martyrdom by 
driving over this villainous road, which was not much better 
when [ last travelled over it in 1876 than when I became 
acquainted with it in 1852. 

My friend and I were not sorry to rest awhile after our 
long scramble. We were now more that 3,000 feet above the 
sea, and the air was clear and bracing. ‘The spot we rested at 
was remarkable because of two tall gum trees into the butts of 
which hollows had been worn by fire and decay. These formed 
basin-like aquariums, each containing two or three quarts of 
cool water. This was quite clear, and moss-grown round the 
sides, and in all directions the footpads of marsupials and other 
animals radiated from the water-trees. After a time we moved 
on through large gum trees and stringy-barks, with more or less 
underbush. Where the outlook was sufficiently clear, we looked 
across immense mountain spurs thickly clothed with ordinary 
forest timber, and down into the valley of the Manning. Soon 


BY THE HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 75 


we came to ‘‘ Hell-gate,”’ the fancy name of a deeply-channelled 
creek, in the bed of which there is a stream of water as cool as 
its title is hot. It was past noon when we arrived at Nowendoc 
(18 miles), another of the A. A. Company’s stations, the 
stockman in charge of which slightly augmented his ordinary 
allowance by keeping a bouse of accommodation ; and here we 
made a modest lunch of salt beef and bread, with the addition 
_of some very good vegetables grown on the place. As we 
rode onwards in the afternoon, it was not hard to realise 
that we were on the Tableland of New England. Beside 
Nowendoc’s boggy creek was a narrow flat, while a little to 
the left was a spur of the range covered with immense stringy- 
barks; and between us and them were hundreds of well-grown 
tree-ferns, standing so closely together that the ends of their 
fronds, in many cases, met. For some miles we rode through 
the stringy-barks, under tall trees which deserve to be called 
‘‘oiants of the forest,’’ through a tangle of undergrowth and 
fallen logs which skirted the road on either side. Here it 
was sheltered and warm, but no sooner had we made our 
way to the open country, than the chillness made _ itself 
perceptible. 


That night we put up at Murphy’s accommodation house, 
and enjoyed a good fire and an abundance of plain food. Mur- 
phy, however, was not a careless, go-as-you-please man. He 
was very well known throughout the district, for nobody could 
produce better potatoes than old Murphy, who claimed that he 
had raised thein from seed, and thus obtained a special potato. 
Be that as it may, the fame of those potatoes spread, and the 
sale of seed potatoes became to him a source of considerable 
income. [ shall never forget the pride with which he pointed 
to the slabs which formed the walls and floor of his dwelling, 
the whole of them from a couple of trees, he assured us. At 
any rate, they indicated the size of those trees on the stringy- 
bark ranges, for many of them were over twenty inches in 
breadth. Rough in his ways was Murphy, but he always gave 
good value for the money paid him by travellers, and however 
cold the night, there was always a warm corner by the fireside, 
and a snug bed for his visitors. 


Our journey next day was an easy one, some twenty miles, 
or thereabouts, to Tia station, the hospitable abode of William 
Denne, one of the early settlers in that part of the district. Two 
brothers, William and Richard Denne, were men of Kent. They 


76 NEW ENGLAND (N.S.W.), ETC. 


came to Australia when young fellows, bringing with them what 
money they had, and hoping to secure more. At first they tried 
farming at Campbelltown, about 30 miles from Sydney; but 
there was not much money to be made at that business, and 
the accounts that reached them of New England attracted and 
settled them there. They owned, besides the Tia station, 
Trinchy, on Liverpool Plains, and Coopracurrapa, below the 
range on a tributary of the Manning River. [minently prac- 
tical both of them, and especially kind and helpful to young 
fellows like myself. About fourteen miles eastward from Tia, 
on the 10ad to Port Macquarie, was the Yarrowich station; this 
was then owned by Todd and Fenwick, who, however, divided 
it about that time, each taking one side of the Yarrowich Creek, 
which ran through the run. I believe Arthur Hodgson first 
owned it. Beyond this point came the rapid fall by an extremely 
rough road to the aforenamed port. Our road, however, turned 
in the opposite direction, and after spending a very pleasant 
night with William Denne, and making the acquaintance of 
Dr. Adams, an old identity who occupied a cottage close by, 
we moved onwards. A visit to William Denne’s garden was 
really refreshing. No fruit were ripe at the time, September. 
Indeed, a very heavy fall of snow had melted only a short time 
before, but there was promise of a rich harvest in another two or 
three months. Apples, pears, peaches, plums, cherries, goose- 
berries, raspberries, currants, were all well represented, and there 
was a thriving young walnut tree, nuts from which I gathered 
more than thirty yeais afterwards. 


Three miles from Tia station we came to Tiara, a wretchedly 
tumble-down and neglected place owned by Patrick and Sandy 
McNab. Within a year it was in the market, and my partners 
and I secured it. We then owned Waterloo, the next adjoining 
station, having purchased it from Captain Thornton. And at 
Waterloo, twelve miles distant, we arrived in time for lunch. 
Here I had my home for five years, and during that time 
I made the acquaintance of the squatters and others in the 
neighbourhood. ‘The Waterloo station-honse, a small shingled 
building, containing four rooms, with a narrow passage through 
the centre, and haying an aspiring porch in front, was 
placed on a rather steep hillside, overlooking the Apsley River. 
The floor at the back entrance was only a few inches 
from the ground, while at the front it was raised about 
four feet. A number of logs had been rolled into the space 


BY THE HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. TK 


beneath, and these formed a snug retreat for snakes and native 
cats, and not infrequently a death took place in the happy family. 
We always knew when a misfortune of this kind had befallen us. 
The first owner, who designed and built the house, regarded it 
as an architectural triumph ! 

Five miles west of Waterloo was the Huropeambela 
station, owned by Frederick Huth, and managed by ‘‘ Tom” 
Rusden. ‘Three miles on, in the same direction, Abraham Nivi- 
son lived, at Ohio; and two miles further on was the small 
township of Walcha. Caldwell kept the only inn there; 
Daniels, I think, the only store. There was also a blacksmith’s 
shop, and a few cottages were scattered round. Walcha was at 
that time what is commonly described as a one-horse place. A 
little later on Livingstone moved his store from the Kuropam- 
bela road into the little town, and other stores and hotels were 
opened ; also, a flour mill beside a large, dark, bunyip-inhabited 
waterhole in the Apsley. A mile from the township Mr. and 
Mrs. Jamieson lived, at ‘‘ Walcha Villa,’ and with them Mrs. 
Smith, a widowed sister of Mr. Jamieson. This gentleman's 
name calls to mind an incident which created a large amount 
of interest throughout the pastoral districts. The sheep he 
owned suffered more or less from scab—generally more—and 
his neighbours, Rusden in particular, complained greatly of 
the disease being communicated to their flocks, through inter- 
mixing on the run boundaries, At the time to which I refer, 
I think early in 1853, Europambela was ‘‘ clean,” all scabby 
sheep having been boiled down not many months earlier. One 
morning at Waterloo, my friend Morton and I had gone, after 
breakfast, to the folding-ground at the back of the house. Sheep 
then were kept in hurdle-yards at night. The flock had been 
taken out about an hour earlier, but just then the shepherd came 
back in a breathless condition, exclaiming in gasps, ‘‘ Here’s 
scab—in all its purity!’’ ‘Then we had a consultation. One 
of Jamieson’s shepherds ha been lost two days before; but he 
stuck to his scabby flock, and followed them without knowing 
where he was going. Our shepherd met him near our boundary 
with Europambela, but the scabby sheep had not crossed it. 
When he heard the lost man’s tale, our shepherd turned both 
flocks back, our own homewards, Jamieson’s along the road to 
Walcha. I, fortunately, was out of what followed. ‘I want 
you to go to a sheep-station up the river, and then on to Walcha 
with letters; but say nothing about these sheep to anyone.”’ 
So said Morton to me. He hastily put up some food, and we 


78 NEW ENGLAND (N.S.W.), ETC. 


saddled up. Morton took the food to the shepherd whose want 
of bush knowledge had led to so much mischief, and he canu- 
tioned the man that he must not take his flock any further. 
He must wait where he was until some of them returned to him. 
Then he galloped on to Europambela, and, Rusden being away 
from home, he used his persuasive powers upon the overseer, 
Saunders. ‘‘ You see,’’ he argued, ‘‘ Jamieson’s sheep are on 
your run, and if you allow them to come on, they will con- 
vey the disease to your principal flocks. They must be killed 
where they are, and I will help you, because, although they 
were not on the Waterloo run, my shepherd turned them back. 
So hurry up, and let us to the slaughter.’’ That afternoon, as 
I returned from my visit to the township, a wonderful sight 
met my view. ‘ Blackfellow’s Gully’’ was an open flat and 
very boggy. There about eight reckless men had rounded up 
Jamieson’s scabby flock, and by the time I returned, their blud- 
geons had done their work. About 1,200 sheep lay dead on what 
afterwards came to be known as the “‘ field of Waterloo !”’ 


Having completed their task, Moreton sent a letter to 
Jamieson, telling him what had happened, and suggesting to 
him, quite in a friendly way, that he might bring some men 
over and skin the sheep if he cared to save their pelts! This 
Jamieson did on the following day. Being young at the time, I 
almost regretted that I had not had my share in the slaughter ; 
but the sight of so many sheep lying dead in heaps was a 
ghastly one, and I soon became reconciled to having been 
absent. A few days later I became satisfied that it was wise to 
abstain from joining in jobs of this character. I was busy over 
something in my room after breakfast, when my friend Morton 
came in with a scared expression in his face. I had heard 
voices outside, and now came the explanation. ‘‘ Here’s a 
pretty go,’’ said my friend; ‘‘a policeman has come with a 
warrant, and he is going to take me and those Europambela 
fellows to Armidale and put us in the lock-up. But he has 
promised that he will not put the handcuffs on me if I ge 
with him quietly!’’ So he put a few things in his valise, and 
rode off with the policeman, and he and the other killers of 
sheep were safely escorted to the lock-up. The magistrates 
were kind to them, and took their case into consideration at 
once, and they were allowed out on bail, after having been 
committed to stand their trial in Maitland for illegally killing 
Jamieson’s sheep: All the gloss of the affair had worn off by 


BY THE HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. "9 


this time. The payment of £600 compensation did not put 
an end to the proceedings in the Criminal Court; but Judge 
and jury were considerate, and as Jamieson had been paid full 
value for his flock, and no malicious motives could be attributed 
to the breakers of the law, they were acquitted. It was this 
incident which soon afterwards led to the passing of laws 
which specially dealt with the disease in sheep commonly called 
‘scab.”’ But Morton and his companions always declared 
they would, in future, leave experiments of that sort to any 
other fellows who liked to break the monotony of bush life 
by administering the law according to their own ideas of right 
and wrong. 


A number of pastoralists were settled within a few miles 
of each other in this part of the New England district. South- 
wards from Walcha, Herbert Salwey occupied St. Leonards. 
He was the first to lay down clover in paddocks in that district. 
Near him was John Fletcher, at Branga. Then Morrison, 
the Melvors, Wilson, and Girard. A little more westerly and 
northerly, old John Scott and his hospitable helpmate, at 
Surveyor’s Creek, not far from Bendemeer, on the Macdonald 
River. Bendemeer station was occupied by Perry. Buchanan 
was settled a few miles up stream. At Carlile’s Gully there 
was a roadside hotel, on the main road to Armidale. The Bells 
lived at Bergen-op-Zoom, close to Walcha. Not far from them, 
the Eliotts, at imu Creek ; the Crawfords, at Moona Plain ; Mrs. 
Richards (afterward Wenner), at Winterbourne; Star, at Mihi 
Creek, near Armidale. Then there were, not far from Armidale, 
Gostwych, owned by the Dangars (Arthur Hunter Palmer, 
manager) ; Salisbury Court, owned by Matthew Henry Marsh ; 
Terrible Vale, by Taylor. The roid from Armidale to Salisbury 
struck the Great Northern Road from Maitland at Uralla town- 
ship. So gradual was the decline from the summit of the 
Dividing Range just here, that by a drain a few feet deep, the 
water of a swamp on the eastern side was led through into the 
Rocky River, on the western side. This was cut through by the 
goldminers at a later date than 1853. 


I do not propose to describe the stations and their occu- 
pants with whom I came less in contact. Of thosa I have 
named, my friend Morton came to Queensland, and settled the 
Prairie run, west of Gladstone. In 1853, William Miles, who 
had been overseer at Bergen-op-Zoom, for Boulton and Bell, 
moved north, and settled at Dulacca. He afterwards became a 


80 NEW ENGLAND (N.S.W.), ETC. 


member of Parliament, and served as a Minister more than 
once. Gilbert Eliott, who owned Emu Creek, took up or 
bought Yenda, near Gayndah. He was the first speaker of the 
Queensland Legislative Assembly. A grandson of his is a 
highly respected officer in the Harbours Department at the 
present time. Palmer became the owner of stations north of 
Rockhampton. He entered Parliament, and, by force of char- 
acter, made a prominent place for himself. He was for some 
years Premier, was a member of more than one Ministry, and 
ended his days as Sir A. H. Palmer, President of the Legislative 
Council. Many of my contemporaries on New England pushed 
north, preferring the heat of Queensland to the frost and snow 
of what has often been described as the ‘‘ Garden of New 
South Wales.” One to whom I have made no reference was 
the once owner of a station not many miles distant from Armi- 
dale, and afterwards came to Queensland. Captain O’Connell 
for a time, resided at Gayndah. ‘Thence he moved to Glad- 
stone, where he held the appointment of Government Resident, 
until the northern districts of New South Wales were excised, 
and the new Colony of Queensland was established. He was 
then summoned to the Legislative Council, and sueceeded Sir 
Charles Nicholson as President, which office he held, under his 
new title of Sir Charles Maurice O’Connell, until his death. His 
honoured widow still lives amongst us. As for myself, when 
I was seized by the roving spirit, as so many of my friends 
had been, I wandered through many parts of the parent colony, 
gravitating finally towards what is now the State of Queensland. 
And even now the association with my first bush home is 
maintained by the many names with which I was familiar 
there as I now am here. 


Space does not permit of further reference to the New 
England district and its many points of interest. I will only 
now briefly allude to the extraordinary formation on its eastern 
side, Along this, by some extraordinary convulsion which I am 
unable to explain, there are immense fissures, several hundred 
feet in depth. One of these terminated abruptly about three 
miles from Waterloo, where I lived for five years. The Apsley 
River is one of the heads of the Macleay, which finds its way 
to the sea at Trial Bay. Until, and for a few miles after it 
passes Waterloo, it runs through pleasant undulating country, 
and a stranger following its course would never suspect the 
surprise which was in store for him. Suddeny it drops into 


BY THE HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 81 


a great fissure the depth of which I cannot now remember, 
and forms a magnificent waterfall. It then drains down the 
gorge, and in the sharp bend below the first fall there is 
another deep perpendicular drop. From this point the gorge 
gradually widens and the hillsides slope into it very sharply. 
Every creek from each side empties by a series of cascades and 
sudden drops into the gorge. Some of these are most pic- 
turesque, notably that where the ever-running Tia River rushes 
down like a silver thread to a depth of probably more than 
2,000 feet. And now I must end this part with a recommenda- 
tion to those of my friends who would become acquainted with 
the beauty of Australian scenery, to take the earliest oppor- 
tunity of visiting the Gostwych Falls, near Armidale, and the 
Apsley Falls, near Walcha. 


PART Il. 
(Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 21st June, 1902). 


In a paper which I had the honour of reading before the 
members of the Royal Society some weeks ago, I briefly 
described my first trip to the New England district in 1852 and 
the settlers with whom I became acquainted in their bush 
homes. Of these I write now, as I have always thought of 
them, in terms of commendation and appreciation. Those who 
were the first to occupy the country had many and serious 
difficulties to contend against. They were by no means free 
from dangers of attacks by the blacks, but this is a subject I 
have no desire to enlarge upon ; I never took part in any place 
in the scrimmages, to use a mild term, of which I have heard 
very much, and it gives me only pain to recall the scenes which 
others have described to me. Such incidents I trust will never 
be repeated in any part of Australia. When I first went to New 
England the dark chapter had been closed in that district, and 
the blacks who remained went to and from station to station 
without let or hindrance. At that time, however, two great 
difficultes were ever present—that of obtaining the labour which 
was required to carry on the station work, and the supplying of 


82 NEW ENGLAND (N.S.W.) ETC. 


rations and other necessaries of life to the persons who lived on 
stations. The goldfields had attracted most of the men who had 
been employed as shepherds, &¢., and there were few of us who 
had not to tend the flocks ourselves and to do all other kinds of 
work when the occasion demanded it. Still we must have food 
and clothing; wool bales and.all implements which were wanted 
for station work had to be obtained from the coast, and the 
roads were in no case good, in many very bad indeed. 
Before turning my attention northwards, I will briefly refer to 
some of these. I have written enough already about the Port 
Stephens road, which at that time was quite unfit for ordinary 
wheel traffic, and the road to Port Macquarie which was 
extremely rough and consequently was little used. 


Our best traffic road to the coast was the Great Northern, 
which connected Morpeth and Maitland on the Hunter River 
with Armidale, and thence led to the more northerly towns. 
All the carriage of rations and stores was conducted by means 
of bullock-drays, and these were sometimes occupied for three 
months or even more on the trip to and from the Hunter. From 
the station on which I resided we had to send our drays by 
Walcha and Terrible Vale station to get onto the Great Northern 
Road a few miles south of Uralla township. They then travelled 
by Carlisle’s Gully, Bendemeer on the Macdonald River, and 
over the Moonby Range by an exceedingly rough track onto the 
lower country near Tamworth. Thence they followed a course 
at no great distance from the present Great Northern Railway 
Line to Maitland. Not much of the track had even been formed, 
and in wet weather the drays often went down to their axles in 
the soft sticky clay. Most of the country from Uralla to 
Moonby is granity, and this becomes specially boggy in wet 
weather ; but by sticking to the track which was generally used, 
and the surface of which was trampled into a fairly hard crust, 
there was some chance of getting along. The sticky red soil of 
the ridgy country was perhaps the most difficult to get through. 
On one occasion, when I was taking sheep from New England to 
Lake George, we lost our draft bullocks from our camp at 
the Clay Waterholes, about ten miles south of Tamworth. 
Fortunately for us, the pastoralists had plenty of room for 
stock on their runs, and they left us in peace with our 
8,000 sheep while for a fortnight the bullock-driver and I 
scoured the country in search of the vagrants. We rode separa- 
tely over a wide area of country, and took it in turn to camp 


BY THE HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 83 


out, so that there was never more than one absent from the 
sheep at night. I found the rascals one evening when the driver 
was camping out, and yoking them up disposed of them com- 
fortably for the night by chaining them to one tree in front of 
the leaders, and to another behind the polers. I was bullock- 
driver next day and then learnt something of the sticky nature 
of the red soil. The clay fairly blocked up the spaces between 
the spokes when I came to the ridgy country, until the eight 
bullocks could not drag the dray. Seven or eight times in 
a mile I had to clear the spokes with a spade, and when 
I got to camp that afternoon I felt I had done my 
duty. This was the class of country over which our wool drays 
had to travel to port and return with rations; no wonder some 
persons tried to introduce an easier method. 


At Clerkness, on the Bundarra River, there lived an enter- 
prising gentleman named Clerk. He could not rest content with 
the bullock dray system and busied his mind in the effort to 
provide something better, and he made a name for himself which 
will long be remembered by his friends and neighbours. He 
went to England, and there, no doubt, took counsel with engi- 
neers of repute whose assistance he needed. The result was a 
steam engine, which could not only be used for grinding grain, 
cutting timber, &c., but it was also designed to do the work of a 
traction engine, and its great recommendation was that as it 
moved along a road, by a skilful mechanical contrivance it laid 
down a succession of iron shoes in front of the wheels. These 
revolved with the wheels, which thus passed over an endless iron 
way and were saved from sinking into the all too yielding bush 
roads. At least that was the intention of the inventor. 
The ‘‘ Megaethon’’ was the name given to this new and 
promising contrivance. If I remember rightly, it was 
tested at Sydney with some success. But most of 
us know the difference between the well formed 
blue-metalled roads of a city and the soft clay tracks. of the 
bush. In due time the Megaethon commenced itsjourney. The 
mechanical contrivances by which its movements were directed 
and controlled were good enough, but under the weight of the 
engine the iron shoes sunk into the clay, and after many efforts 
to get it along the owner had reluctantly to admit that his great 
invention was not equal to the work for which it was designed. 
It was intended that this should displace the dray and working 
bullocks ; but, ah! the irony of fate! After months of deten- 


84 NEW ENGLAND (N.S.W.) ETC. 


tion on the road, it was at last drawn to its destination by a 
double team consisting of eight and twenty strong working 
bullocks. In 1859 I had occasion to visit Clerkness, and there 
I discovered the Megaethon peacefully cutting timber like any 
ordinary sawmill. Afterall, then, the bullock dray maintained its 
position, and several years went by before draught horses began to 
replace the bullocks. Indeed, anyone who knew much of the roads 
which were then in use quite understood the reason of this. 


In 1858 our managing partner decided to send a flock of 
about a thousand fat sheep to Sydney. Boy as I was at the time, 
and inexperienced withal—lI had left school only afew months before 
—I was to take charge of them and to have two men to assist 
me. One of these was called the shepherd, the other cook and 
watchman. None of us knew these men; but labour was scarce 
in those days, and inen were worth money. We could not raise 
a dog amongst us. None of us, I fancy, knew anything of the 
road we were to travel. Some timein March we got away from 
the station, The manager accompanied us that day, and camped 
with us at night. On the following day be went with us until 
we had passed Walcha. I do not know that he had ever 
travelled with sheep, but during this day and a-half he had been 
instructing me in the art; then he left us and returned home. 
Mr. Wilson’s Aberbaldie station was the first we passed, Mclvor’s 
Inglebar the next. Thence we proceeded by this short-cut of 
which we knew nothing; but we were making for the Hanging 
Rock diggings, and we were then to go on bya track over Crawney 
Mountain, to descend onto the Isis River, and follow it down until 
we reached the town of Aberdeen, on the Hunter. We did not follow 
the highroad down the Hunter, but diverged to the right passing 
through Patrick’s Plains, then made across to Cobcroft’s and 
Parnell’s stations, took the stock route across the Bulgar 
Mountain, crossed the Colo River, and over more barren 
mountains until we reached the Hawkesbury, at a point nearly 
opposite Windsor. 


Soon after we passed Inglebar, the road, such as it was, led 
us into a dense stringy-bark forest. I had never seen such a 
quantity of magnificent timber trees. In the rich volcanic 
soil, constantly moistened by abundant showers in the summer 
and by sleet and snow in the winter, they thrived amazingly, 
and being closely packed together they grew to an immense 
height. Between the butts of the trees there was a tangled 
mass of undergrowth, and numbers of the fallen giants of the 


BY THE HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 85 


forest, lying here there and everywhere, formed an almost im- 
passable barrier. The track we followed was about eight feet 
in width ; from this the trees had been removed, but in many 
cases the stumps had been left ix situ ; a few wheel tracks how- 
ever showed that it was sometimes used for vehicular traffic. 
Slowly enough we progressed for several miles, never by any 
chance catching sight of a human being. By and by the country 
opened out somewhat, and we found a camping place for the 
night. It was an odd sort of road for taking fat stock. After 
this we followed on through some rough, stony ranges, and at 
last sighted the Hanging Rock diggings. And what a wild 
place this was. A few hastily constructed timber stores and 
shanties and very many dirty looking tents. I had little time 
for looking about me here though. Neither of my men had any 
money but the faintest smell of liquor affected them very 
quickly. We had to cross a deep gully, then climb a steep hill- 
side through the township. I never understood how I got those 
men along on that occasion ; they never lost another opportunity 
of getting very drunk. We surmounted the hill at last and 
looked down a much steeper and more stony decline. As we 
descended I had to pick my way too cautiously to watch the 
men. I slipped and fell two or three times and carried some 
bruises with me for several days. This road I concluded was 
used only for carriage purposes by pack animals or skids. I 
think it was on the following day that we got to Crawney 
Mountain. The road here had become a sort of goat track 
leading alone the steep mountain side. Somebody—I can- 
not remember his name—had a station hereabouts. I always 
think of him with gratitude, however, for he gave us a supply of 
good fresh beef for which I paid him. In the evening we formed 
our camp beside the river Isis whose bright and sparkling water 
drains down the buttress spurs of the New England ranges. The 
track we had followed was extremely picturesque, but I never at- 
tempted it after that trip. On a later occasion | tried a shortcut to 
a station on the Peel River below Tamworth. ‘That time I took 
the road from Walcha by Surveyor’s Creek, the home of good 
old John and Mrs. Scott, their daughter Agnes and their son 
John, to Bendemeer. After a good homely lunch with these 
hospitable friends young John started me on the right track, 
but he warned me it was almost impossible for anyone to follow. 
who had not been over it before. His warning was justified by 
the event, for by taking the likeliest-looking of two tracks, some 


86 NEW ENGLAND (N.S.W.) ETC. 


time in the afternoon, I was led four or five miles out of my 
way and into an exceptionally rough and stony piece of country 
on the Macdonald River, above Bendemeer. However, I got 
away from the stones without laming my horse, and reached 
the hotel about sunset. Next morning I took the road towards 
Tamworth, but before reaching the top of the Moonby range 
turned into a bridle track to the right as directed. Such a weird 
country it was too. The track was easy to follow; its course 
was along the crown of a very steep spur, on either side of 
which the hillside sloped so precipitously that no other track 
could be formed. Big trees and monster granite rocks are 
abundant all over the Moonby, not a few enormous boulders 
sitting securely on small stones not larger than a good-sized 
chair. There is something fascinating about these lonely 
wilderness ranges, but to make a practicable road through them 
would cost many thousands of pounds. 


Turning northwards we find equally broken and steep ranges 
dividing the western and more level country from the coast ; 
indeed the mountain range which forms the eastern boundary of 
the New England district is a part of the main range ofthe country. 
In different places rough bridle tracks had been formed by settlers 
whose business took them coastwise on their sure-footed moun- 
tain horses. These, however, are notes of travel, not descriptions 
of places with which I have no personal acquaintance, and I will 
pass over the tracks which I never followed as well as those 
which have been made at more or less cost in later years. A few 
months after I arrived on New England I made my first visit to 
Armidale, and the trip was to me perhaps more full of interest 
because the manner of it was free from any any shadow of con- 
ventionality. I went with our dray in the capacity of bullock- 
driver’s offsider. At that time we grew wheat at each station 
and had it ground at the nearest mill. This arrangement arose 
out of the difficulty of carriage and the frequent depreciation of 
flour through its becoming damp during the long trips of drays 
from the coast. When John Robertson’s Land Act, with its 
free selection provisions, came into operation, enough settlers 
took up land in the district to supply our wants in this respect. 
However, having loaded up with wheat, we started off one morn- 
ing on our thirty-mile trip, I riding a quiet old horse who quite 
understood that his business was to stand anywhere he was left 
until he was wanted, and at night he must never take the horse- 
bell he then wore beyond our hearing from the camp. My busi- 


BY THE HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 87 


ness was to keep within hail of the dray, in case I should be 
wanted. And so during the three days we spent between tha 
station and Armidale I wandered about after the fashion of boys 
amongst the magpies and gillbirds, rosella and lory parrots, 
poked up ringtail possums in their snug bark nests, and 
kangaroo rats in their warm grass-made snuggeries. We boiled 
our quart-pots at a rippling stream at midday, and drank 
our green hysonskin tea, sweetened with the brownest of 
brown sugar, and thoroughly enjoyed it, as we also enjoyed 
our cold boiled beef and damper made in the old fashion— 
flour mixed with water and a flavouring of salt, and 
baked in the ashes where the fire had been hottest. We 
passed Emu Creek station, where lived the sons of Queensland’s 
first Speaker, six miles from our starting point, and Mihi Creek, 
owned by Starr, about a dozen miles further on, but we made 
our camp at night far from these the only inhabited spots on the 
journey. At break of day I caught the old nag and went off for 
the bullocks whose bells generally indicated their whereabouts, 
and brought them in to the camp; then, a splash in the creek, 
a hearty breakfast, and once more we started on our journey. 
We brought up in front of the mill on the third day in time to 
unload the dray; then drawing away forty or fifty yards, we 
formed our camp between Kirkman’s mill and John Trim’s store. 
Armidale was a funny little place at that time. John Trim was 
an institution, the first storekeeper there, I think. Allingham 
ran another flourmill ; Gilchrist, Danger and Co. another store. 
I can call to mind a couple of hotels and a limited number of 
other small business places and dwellings. Dr. Markham was 
the resident doctor. It was the Armidale of to-day in its child- 
hood. On the afternoon of the second day we loaded up the 
flour and bran in time to get clear of the township before caimp- 
ing. We were anxiously looked for at the station, and the 
bullock-driver intended that there should be no unnecessary delay. 
He was a fine fellow, standing 6ft. in. in his boots, and straight 
as an arrow ; an old gipsy, it was said, who had done some poach- 
ing and came to New South Wales in consequence. Be that as it 
may, he was a splendid servant and honest in every respect. 


I did not become further acquainted with the Northern part 
of New England until 1858. Early in that year I had gone 
from Sydney to Grafton in the s.s. Grafton, having arranged 
to travel from the Clarence River with cattle to Victoria. I may 
here perhaps digress briefly from the subject of this paper, as so 


88 NEW ENGLAND (N.S.W.) ETC. 


many changes in the condition of that river and its most 
important town must have taken place since the time I write of. 
Very little settlement had been effected along the banks of the 
river, and by far the greater part of its fine alluvial flats were 
covered with the original vine scrubs, and the cattle which took 
shelter in them were wild and troublesome. At the Devil’s 
Elbow was a new township, St. Lawrence, about midway 
between the bar and Grafton. The “ Devil,” I fancy, has since 
been put out of sight, and the place is spoken of simply as “‘ The 
Elbow.”” I have no doubt that he retains his place in the 
memory, if not in the affection, of the original settlers. At the 
time I speak of he presided over a small wharf and store, a 
public house, and a very limited number of other buildings. 
We arrived at Grafton at about 4 p.m. I find the place thus 
described in my notes—‘‘ A small township and very much 
scattered. The principal side is the North, where the post 
office and court house are situated.’’ My recollection of the 
place does not bring before me many of the buildings. I put 
up at an inn near the wharf where the steamer lay; I cannot 
recall any other. There was a store kept by Lardner, another 
by Shoveller. I recollact a Church of England at which the 
Rev. Mr. Selwyn officiated. Mr. Greaves, the Government 
surveyor, lived in a cottage of his own in a clearing in the serub. 
I suspect the spot now is well in the town. There were a few 
tradesmen’s shops and a number of cottages, some of which had 
very pretty gardens. Captain Marsh, lateowner of Camira Station, 
occupied one of these. On the lower side of the town there was 
a great deal of scrub, and in it the finest specimen of Moreton 
Bay fig I have everseen ; its rootsabove the surface of the soil were 
said to cover more than two acres. Thousands of cape goose- 
berry plants grew on the river flats, where these were moderately 
free from scrub. On a creek a mile or two from the town stood 
Kirchner and Co. soap and candle works, and there was a 
boiling down establishment not far from these. I forget the 
name of the gentleman—I think he was a Frenchman—who 
had started a sugar farm ; he intended making the sugar from 
sorghum, but I never heard that he succeeded. So much can I 
remember of the north side, the site of the more important part 
of the township. I made Mr. Joseph Sharpe’s station, four 
miles up the river, my head quarters while I was in the district 
at that time, and again a year later; Mr. Gale was the manager. 


BY THE HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 89 


Before the cattle were ready for us to start I crossed one 
day to South Grafton having to ride up the road thence 
towards Armidale for a couple of horses which, if we could get 
them, we were to take with the cattle. I crossed the lovely 
Clarence River in a boat and landed amongst the few buildings 
in the South Grafton township. A Mr. Bawden kindly 
supplied me with a saddle-horse to go as far as Mr. Aitken’s 
station. There I borrowed another and got that evening 
to Nimboyda station, having crossed the Oorara River a few 
miles back. Wr. Therold, the manager, like all others in the 
district, was most hospitable. My journey from South Grafton 
that day covered only 23 miles. On the following morning the 
river was in flood, and as it was an uninviting, swift-running 
stream, I waited until the afternoon, and at 4 p.m. started on 
with the post-boy. Of course there was a Big Hill to surmount; 
every road from the coast to New England has its big hill, so 
big that most men walk and lead their horses to the top. We 
did this, and rain drenched us as we did so. The road for some 
distance followed the saddle of a mountain spur, appropriately 
called the Razorback. Some distance down one of the steep 
slopes of the hill, a large boiler lay against two or three trees ; 
this was being taken with the machinery for a mill which was 
to be erected somewhere up the road, but the driver had a 
difficulty with his bullocks and the dray on which was the 
boiler overturned. The boiler remained as a warning to the 
bullock-drivers of the future, for it was impossible to bring it to 
the top of the spur again. We travelled only 13 miles from 
Nimboyda to Peter Shea’s inn, but we did not reach the latter 
place until late at night. On the following day I rode another 
13 miles to Parrott’s, having crossed Blake’s River on the way. 
This stream is—or was—the boundary dividing the Clarence 
district from that of New England. Here then I was again in the 
latter district, and the country was similar to much more on the 
eastern slopes; splendid red volcanic soil, and giant stringy- 
barks of great height and girth, and enough of them to build a 
city; around their butts a confusion of fallen logs, burnt-out 
stump holes, and luxuriant undergrowth, and an abundance of 
green wattle in the less thickly timbered spaces. Here I was 
supposed to pick up one of the horses of which I had come in 
search, but the animal had got away with a wild mob, in 
running which in such country it would be easy to cripple two 


or three others. We tried that day and two others to run her 
J 


90 NEW ENGLAND. (N.S.W.) ETC. 


in, the only result being the knocking-up of Parrott’s own horse 
on the third day. Then I again turned northwards, had dinner 
with Peter Shea at his inn on Cloud’s Creek, secured the other 
horse, and arrived at Nimboyda the same afternoon. After all 
my trouble the old horse I had secured at Shea’s knocked up on 
the following day, and I did not get him to Aikin’s until 
evening. I had to leave him there, and got back to Retreat the 
following day in good time. 


The time had now arrived for starting with the cattle. 
They had been collected at one of Mr. Sharpe’s stations, named 
Southgate, and this we left on 8th April, passing the Travellers’ 
Rest Hotel (a bush pub), Camira station, which the McDougalls 
had just bought from Captain Marsh, and Hamilton’s station 
Wyan, part of which is in the Clarence River district, part in 
the Richmond, The second day from Wyan we crossed the big 
hill of the neighbourhood. This was the Richmond River 
Range. A few miles on we came to Sandilands, the property 
of Robertson Brothers, who sold out to their sister, Mrs. Robert- 
son, a year or two later on, and established themselves on Baffle 
Creek, a little north of Bundaberg. The next station, Tabulam, 
was occupied by Mrs. Chauvel and her son, who afterwards 
moved northwards to Canning Downs South From here we 
crossed over Grasstree Hill to Fairfield, where was another 
roadside inn. Now we were drawing near to New England once 
more and rough roads marked the approach. Girard’s Down- 
fall suggests the rugged bush track. After this we followed the _ 
old road across another big hill. A road party under Mr. Yates, 
who afterwards came to Queensland and made roads for our 
Government, were working on the new road over the Great 
Sandy Range, and we were not allowed to drive cattle over it 
as the cuttings and embankments, all through rough granite, 
had not settled down. We got over the range, however, and 
camped on Black Snake Creek, on New England. We were 
now near Barney Downs, then owned and occupied by John 
Ross. It afterwards passed through several hands, and the 
freehold was eventually bought by C. B. Dutton, the Georgian 
apostle, who in our own State in 1883-4 advocated the nation- 
alisation of land. 


Tenterfield is but 5 miles from Barney Downs. It was a 
village rather than a township at that time. Cowper and Riley 
were interested in the Tenterfield station, and Stuart Donaldson, 
the old Sydney politician, was also a partner. We had with us 


BY THE HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 91 


droving the cattle the son of an English parson who could 
recite Moore, Byron, and other poets by the hour, and 
often helped to entertain the camp on a dull evening; but 
in the more practical walks of life he had not achieved greatness 
when I last heard of him. Still his name, I am told, was never 
forgotten at Tenterfield station, where, when he first came to 
Australia, he was sent to take charge of the station store. After 
he had been there for a time, so the story runs, the stockman and 
other hands being exceptionally busy, they ran short of beef. What 
was tobe done? ‘‘ Oh, bother it, we can manage well enough. 
Let Podmore get in an old cow from the milker’s mob; he will 
get on all right.” The new chum was thus placed in a position 
of greater responsibility than usual. It was late when the other 
hands came home, and the first question was: ‘‘ Well, Podmore, 
how did you manage? Did you get a good beast to kill?” 
‘Oh yes,’ he answered proudly, ‘‘ a splendid fat cow,’’ and he 
described the animal. It was Donaldson’s imported Shorthorn 
cow, the only imported animal on the station. 


From Tenterfield to Bolivia there was not then a dwelling 
place in sight of the road. For nearly all the distance the track 
is ridgy and sandy. ‘The only notable places on the way were 
the Bluff Mountain and the Mole River, now more often spoken 
of as the Bluff River; the large holes in it are said to give 
shelter to fine Murray River codfish. I never saw any there, 
but like other New England streams it is the resort of the duck- 
billed platypus. Of the Bluff Mountain there is a tale of 
black hunting and slaughter by the white settlers. Some people 
say they believe it. In my own opinion, if there is any 
foundation of truth in it, a grossly exaggerated story has been 
built up from very little. Near Bolivia we found ourselves 
confronted with avother of the big hills. The cattle scrambled 
over the rough and shifting granite rocks, a number of them 
getting lamed ; the dray was dragged up somehow. Mr. Irby 
lived at and owned Polivia station, and continued to do go for 
many years afterwards. The next station on the road was 
Deepwater, owned by the Windeyers. Vegetable Creek had no 
history at that time. After leaving Deepwater we next came to 
a very little township called Dundee; there was a flour mill 
there, but only half-a-dozen houses. What is called the 
Newton Boyd Road branches eastward from Dundee and descends 
the range to Grafton. I never travelled by it, but in 1858 it 
was notoriously rough. Since that time the Government of 


92 NEW ENGLAND (N.S.W.) ETC. 


New South Wales have converted it into a coach road at a cost 
of many thousand pounds. After Dundee we passed the 
Yarrowford Station. It is there no longer, nor are its then 
owners, the Radford Brothers They came to Queensland and 
for a time settled at Princhester, near Rockhampton ; later on 
the younger brother obtained a parliamentary appointment and 
for some years he has filled the dignified office of Clerk of the 
Parliaments in this State. Next came the small township of 
Glen Innes, the Demerique’s Station, Farakabad, in close 
proximity. No selectors’ cottages marked the distances along 
the route, no large sheep paddocks, no ringbarked country, but 
white-stemmed gumtrees, rough barked bastard box, and silver- 
leafed peppermints with an occasional intervening patch of 
green wattle, an uninviting shepherd’s hut and sheep yards, and 
here and there a shepherd with his dogs dragging himself along 
lazily after his flock. 


After leaving Glen Innes we skirted the Beardie Plain as 
the railway does now, passed through the granite rocks 
of Stonehenge, and when we reached the foot of Ben 
Lomond, the biggest of big hills of New England, ascended 
a very steep spur on the eastern side of the railway 
line. The Ben Lomond station was at that time owned by 
Codrington. It was a very bleak spot in winter time, but I 
think I never felt more biting air on New England than at 
Falconer station, a few miles further on. There was a town- 
ship there, consisting of some half-dozen buildings. I forget 
who owned the station. This was the old coach route which was 
in use until the time when the railway was constructed, and it 
was an uncommonly rough one. The next station was Gyra. It be- 
longed to Millais, who also kept a roadside pub of the same 
name. Millais died in 1879 at the good old age of 104 years. 
Henry Dutton afterwards bought the station. Yet another bad 
hill beyond this; the Devil’s Pinch it was called. Happily we 
had to descend this, and, after the fashion thereabouts, the driver 
took a stout tree down dragging at the tail of his dray. From 
this point we passed by Maister’s Tilbuster station, kept a 
couple of miles to the right of Armidale, then by Saumarez, 
Kentucky, Carlisle’s Gully, to Bendemeer on the Macdonald 
River, and so on to the Moonby Range, and down it to Oaky 
Creek, which falls into the Peel River just above Tamworth. 
The rest of that trip occupied several months, during which we 
experienced biting frosts, pouring rains, Cumberland disease, 


BY THE HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 93 


large areas of desolating drought and almost undrinkable water ; 
it ended up with scorching heat, mirage, and, early in October, 
the great comet of 1858-9. 


While in Melbourne, in January, 1859, I arranged with 
Mr. Sharpe, from whose station near Grafton I had travelled 
with the last lot cf cattle, to buy another lot of bullocks for the 
Victorian market. I had to take delivery in February, therefore 
left at once for Sydney by the s.s.s Wonga Wonga. In Sydney 
I engaged some of my old drovers and bought a number of 
horses. We then took ship in the s.s. Collaroy for Raymond 
Terrace, and travelled thence by the Port Stephens Road to New 
England, where I secured more horses. We soon started north- 
wards for the Clarence River, but instead of going to Armidale 
kept a more easterly track from Dangar’s Creek. From this 
point we travelled to a station belonging to Hargraves, and on 
the following day camped at Major Parke’s station on the Guy- 
fawkes River ; then we passed along some rugged country and 
arrived at Peter Shea’s inn on Cloud’s Creek. At Nimboyda 
we were delayed by the river which was running very 
swiftly. At a spot where the channel was narrow a rope had 
been stretched between two trees on either bank, and sitting in a 
loup we were dragged across one by one; each of us, where 
the rope sagged most over the middle of the stream, was slightly 
soused on the part of his body which hung lowest. On the 
second afternoon we had to swim the horses across. Then we 
arranged with Mr. Therold, the manager, to take a black boy as 
guide across country to the Clarence Falls, some distance above 
Grafton, as here we must cross the horses to the north side of 
the Clarence. The black boy was the best to be had at the time, 
but as it turned out he knew nothing of the country. None of 
us knew the country which in places was rather rough ;_ but one 
of my men was a native of the district and a good bushman. 
His general knowledge of the lay of the country proved most 
valuable. We kept a pretty straight course, and struck a 
station, owned by the McDougalls, in the afternoon. We dis- 
carded our black guide here, and next morning George Davis 
again took the lead across country. The Oorara River where 
we crossed it was running very strong and only the biggest 
horses could touch bottom; but we got all over safely 
and arrived at the crossing of the Clarence at the 
place we had been making for. It was an ugly place to 
tackle, for the river was running strong, the channel was very 


94 NEW ENGLAND (N.S.W.) ETC. 


wide, and there was only one narrow landing-place. To drive 
the horses in and swim them over in a boiy was impossible. 
Only one other course was open, and this, after a day’s rest, I 
adopted. The Government kept a boat at the Crossing, and 
next morning, having obtained this and the services of the 
boatman, we haltered each horse and dragged them across one 
by one behind the boat. Not one of them swam the whole 
distance ; as a rule they struck out manfully at first, but by the 
time we got to the middle of the stream they turned on their sides 
and were towed for the rest of the distance. By midday we had 
the lot (twenty-eight) safely landed; 14 miles further on we 
arrived at Retreat station. 


We made our start with the cattle on 1st March, and 
travelled by Gordon Brook, Bundock owner, but he was away 
from home. We next passed Yulgilbar, Edward Ogilvie owner; 
he was in England at the time, and a friend of mine, ‘‘ Tom” 
Smith, was in charge during his absence. The new palatial 
residence, containing scores of rooms, was then in course of 
construction. Smith soon afterwards joined Barnes as 
partner, and from them I bought the first lot of cattle I put on 
Rodd’s Bay when I settled in Queensland. The second lot I 
bought from Ogilvie. After leaving Yulgilbar we next passed 
Hamilton’s station, and then joined our last year’s route at 
Tabulam. This we followed over the Great Sandy Hill to 
Tenterfield, and then travelled south by the same road as before 
until we reached Deepwater, whence, in the expectation of finding 
a better supply of grass, we took a more westerly track, and in 9 
miles arrived at Oswald Bloxsom’s Ranger’s Valley station on the 
Severn River. We crossed the Beardie River, 8 miles further on, 
and next came to Mackattie’s station, near Wellingrove. The wild 
ducks here were never interfered with within the house-paddock 
fences, and a large number of them fed round the house with the 
common fowls. Wild fowl were plentiful along this road, 
and with my fowling-piece I obtained an abundance of 
bustards, ducks, and pigeons, a welcome addition to our simple 
bush fare. The township of Wellingrove was very much in 
embryo in 1859. We passed it by and camped for the night at 
Waterloo station, which differed very much in appearance from 
the Waterloo near Walcha. On the following day we had to 
travel 15 miles to the Swanbrook River. Water is not so 
plentiful on the western slopes of New England, and it was this 
scarcity that necessitated so long a day’s drive for the cattle. 


BY THE HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 95 


Most of the streams along here were spoken of respectfully as 
rivers ; they were very small streams, too. Six miles further 
on we came to Elmore station on the Mackintyre River, 
and to Copas Creek 10 miles beyond it. The country 
on this more westerly track was generally less hilly 
than that over which the main route passes, but ahead 
of us, at no great distance, was a gap—whose gap I 
do not remember. The road approaching it led up a narrow 
gully which quickly contracted as we followed it. To the cattle 
its unevenness was of small consequence, but with the cart 
matters were quite the other way. In places two of us had to 
put all our strength onto the ropes which we had fixed to 
the side of the cart farthest from the gully, but even that was 
insufficient and in a turnover one of the shafts was broken. 
We were all rather jaded when the day ended, but, happily, we 
had done forever with that particular gap. At Clerkness, five 
miles on, I found a carpenter, who repaired the damages 
satisfactorily. We were now on the Bundarra River, and about 
40 or 45 miles further on, having passec the Woolshed and 
Capel’s station, we descended by very rough roads to Barraba 
township, a miserable looking place situated on the Manilla 
River. We had now done with the New England district. 
From this point we followed the Manilla River downwards to the 
Manilla township, wzich consisted of a store and pub under one 
roof, and two bark huts. It is situated at the junction of the 
Manilla and Namoi rivers, near Baldwin’s station. We passed 
Cobecroft’s station on the Peel River; then another small 
township named Carrol on the Namoi. A few miles further on 
we struck the Mooki River and followed it up to Breeza town- 
ship where we came onto the great stock-road to the South. 


By following this track along the western slopes we found a 
generally smooth road, though in places it was extremely rough ; 
we had better grass for the cattle, and were treated with every 
consideration by the pastoralists across whose runs few stock 
were driven, and we obtained an abundance of wild fowl. But 
the circumstance to which I would specially direct attention is 
the change that has come over the country along all these routes 
during the forty to fifty years which have elapsed since I 
travelled over them. Even in 1859 the only dwellings to 
be met with were those occupied by the pastoralists and 
their employees, and an occasional roadside inn.  Scarcely 
a fence was to be seen, except those which enclosed the homes of 


96 NEW ENGLAND (N.S.W.), ETC. 


the squatters, and the several townships with very few exceptions 
were mere hamlets. In fact the country was practically open 
from the northern border of New South Wales to that of 
Victoria. Now settlers living in their comfortable homes are met 
with in every district ; the country from end to end is divided by 
thousands of fences into large and small paddocks, and what 
were primitive villages containing only a handful of inhabitants 
are now populous and generally speaking, prosperous towns, 
Then the railways and telegraph lines—the former carry 
passengers and goods in as many hours as weeks were needed in 
the days of bullock teams, and while the quick special messengers 
of the past with their relays of horses would have been getting 
ready for a start, the message is sent and delivered by wire! 
What then may we not expect within another fifty years! 


A FEW SCIENTIFIC NOTES TAKEN DURING THE 
PRESENT DROUGHT. 


By THOMAS P. LUCAS, M.R.C.S., Eng.; L.S.A., 
Lond.; L.R.C.P., Ed. 


(Read before the. Royal Society of Queensland, 21st June, 1902). 


Communities may learn wisdom even from adversity. The 
study of nature is a search for knowledge. Knowledge of the 
cosmos must be of special service in framing the constitutions 
and helming the interests of a nation. The disasters of flood 
and drought, in the natural necessities of our existence, call for 
brain work and scientific research, and in practical experiences 
herald us to discoveries of the laws and activities of nature. 
To know the laws of nature is to be able to use nature as the 
servitor of power for men’s physical and social needs. 


In the present continued drought, water-holes and other 
supplies of water are being dried up. To weepand wail is folly. 
To set ourselves to compass the situation and mitigate the 
uncomfortable conditions resultant therefrom is justifiable and 
healthy, intellectually and morally. I have a twenty-acre piece 
of orchard, about eight miles south from Brisbane, gradually 
sloping to a chain of water-holes, and by these separated from 
another twenty acres of timberland, gradually sloped upwards 
on the opposite side. In flood time the intervening valley 
channel was that of a narrow stream of rashing water; in 
ordinary seasons and weather, simply a chain of water-holes 
twenty to fifty yards apart. I have held possession of the land 
for ten years, and until this year never knew the water to fail. 
But about four months ago all the water-holes were dry, 
excepting one. This evidently communicated with a spring of 
slightly brackish water, as it was always full, and in spite of 


98 A FEW SCIENTIFIC NOTES, ETC. 


cattle drinking and evaporation, etc., it always looked clear and 
fresh in the centre. The depth was from four to six feet. In 
erratic heavy showers during the last six months, three of the 
higher holes were again filled with surface water and still bold 
their supply, but the holes below the brackish water-hole have 
continued dry. 


Being desirous of finding water for irrigation, we sunk 
through three feet of marly clay at the botton of the first dried-up 
water-hole. We then came upon a deposit of leaves and general 
vegetable matter some six feet thick, gradually thinning to the 
contour much beyond present dimensions. There is aslight 
mixture of sand, but not sufficient to prevent the mass being a 
black carbonized substance of vegetable nidus. I need not say 
that the deposit works up well for vegetable manure, which we 
are appyling to the fruit trees. It is not a true peat, lacking of 
course the sphagnum mosses, and not being formed in bogs 
but in a water-hole, evidently the accumulation of years, until 
a sudden high flow washed down a quantity of sand and clay 
to form a thick bed over it. 


After clearing this carbonized deposit away we came upon @ 
basis of marly sandy rocks, soft and friable and alternating 
with inferior and coloured pipeclays, also mixed with sand. 
Sinking eight feet through these beds we got an abundance of 
fresh water. The water is soft and tastes slightly of soda, and 
is evidently from an entirely different drainage to that of the 
water in the water-hole higher up, and which as I said was 
slightly but decidedly. brackish. i 


On the side of the hole now dug out twelve feet deep (not 
reckoning the eight feet bore for water), was a large dead tree- 
stump its roots spreading into the soil, being thus exposed. 
In seeking to undermine this stump with a pick a nest of eels 
was disturbed. They were coiled in interlacing companionship 
into a solid ball evidently to mutual moisture and sustained 
vitality. There were four specimens about eighteen inches each 
in length, and they had instinctively thus located themselves 
under a lacing of roots, at once expedient for protection against 
the hardening humus, and probably supplying a desea of air 
and moisture as well as a rude domicile. 

I must now ask you to visit Hemmant. The Doughboy 
Creek, an estuarine salt creek, runs by the side of Mr. Carlisle’s 
vineyard ; but there, as elsewhere, fresh water is lacking. In 
his difficulty the owner commenced to dig a hole, or rather to 


BY THOMAS P. LUCAS, M.R.C.S., ENG., ETC. 99 


enlarge a formerly dug-out water-hole, but now dry. After 
passing through some feet of surface humus and washed (flood) 
matter he came upon a soft, plastic, black, marly, clayey deposit. 
In the twelve or fourteen feet of this deposit that were passed 
through, four bands of shell conglomerates were found. The three 
higher beds are eighteen to twenty inches apart, but the lowest one 
is quite four feet from the one above it. The shells are mostly an 
estuarine recent species of bivalve with an occasional piece of 
worn coral, now and then a stray oyster-shell and very rarely a 
solitary shell of another species. Iam informed that in driving 
the piles for the railway bridge over the creek near by similar 
shelly beds were met with and, if I am correct, at a depth of 
twenty-eight feet fresh water. 


Do not geologists tell us that in former times the Brisbane 
River was a very much larger and probably differently distributed 
water channel? It appears to me that both instances which L 
have recorded go to support this view. To-day the estuarine 
portion of the river appears to be much further out than for- 
merly. In the floods of the nineties, oyster beds a distance 
beyond the present mouth of the river were destroyed by the 
sudden freshes of the Brisbane River. It takes four years for 
oyster spawn to form new beds, and the supply of such spawn 
is under other conditions. The shell beds at Hemmant do not 
certainly suggest local oyster habitats, but they do prove the 
occurrence of such at the time, at no great distance. But these 
beds appear most conclusively to prove that that the shell colo- 
nies were established near to the mouth of the river and in the 
flux of the salt water tides; for when in floods the fresh water 
poured in hyperabundantly the estuarine salt water shell-fish 
were killed, and did not appear again until deposits to 16 or 18 
inches had been laid down. And in the section laid open this 
evidences as having occurred four times. Doubtless by deeper 
sinking more such and on a larger scale would be proved. 


Another point is worthy of notice. If these shells had been 
buried as they died and immediately covered over with the flood 
water muds, they ought largely to be found bedded in pairs 
(bivalves). Instead of this they are mostly found singly or 
forced into irregular conglomerates in all ways and fashions, as 
they would be if long exposed after death to the tides and on a 
mud bottom. " 


If then my deductions are correct, the present Doughboy 
Creek must in pre-historic human age (post-pleistocene) have 


100 A FEW SCIENTIFIC NOTES, ETC. 


been a wide estuarine mouth of the Brisbane River, instead of 
as at present a moderately wide sub-tidal creek. And consider- 
ing the number of sub-tidal creeks—Norman Creek, Breakfast 
Creek, etc.—may it not be that in earlier times these formed 
portions of many channels and interbranching water courses at 
the mouth of a large estuarine river. If so I can understand 
how the chain of water holes in my orchard, and which show 
superficial deposits of twelve feet deep, were at that time the bed 
of a fairly sized stream tributary. 


Another consideration is worthy of notice—the question of 
time. In my orchard the superficial deposits, that is of the human 
period (the underlying rocks being mesozoic) are only twelve or so 
feet thick. And at Hemmant, judging by the inflow of fresh water, 
the depth of such superficial deposits is only twenty-eight feet. 
Twelve feet and twenty-eight feet deposits may represent the 
work of a score of years, or they may represent that of centuries 
of the human period. It would be necessary to know the history 
of possible previous denudations, and in the geology of the whole 
country the higher and lower levels of the land drained. It is 
not for me to go into these questions in this paper excepting to 
add the above evidences to the valuable information already 
tabulated by our Geological Survey. And I would, in the 
prestige of the Royal Society, suggest the consideration by the 
Agricultural and Geological Departments of the State Service 
of a general supervision of drought-stricken farms and districts, 
to the exploration for water, surface or sub-surface drainage or 
natural springs. In a scientific and practical guidance the 
cost should be but a fraction of the benefits gained. 


ON THE POSSIBILITY OF PREVENTING DAMAGES 
BY FROST. 


By P. OLSSON-SEFFER, Ph. D. 


(Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 2nd August, 1902.) 


In his first report on the sugar industry of Queensland, Dr. W. 
Maxwell says :—‘‘ The occurrence of killing frosts in any district 
appears to be so rare as to cause special remark when it occurs, 
which indicates conditions very far removed from those obtaining 
in such a sugar-growing country as Louisiana, where frost is. 
an annual occurrence, and where precautions are regularly taken 
to protect some part of the crop against its action.” 

Only a few days previous to my reading this passage I had 
been an eye-witness to the damages done by frost to sugar-cane 
and to some other crops in the Maroochy district. Shortly after- 
wards I experienced three nights of severe frost in the Wide Bay 
district, close to the coast, and I was assured by cane-growers 
and farmers there that frost with damaging results was by no 
means so infrequent in South Queensland. 

Nothing is more discouraging for the farmer, who perhaps 
has toiled for a whole year, than to see his promising crop killed 
by one night’s frost. A killing frost is not a yearly occurrence. 
If it were so the farmer would most likely be prepared for it, but 
as several years slip by without an attack from the enemy, he is. 
lulled into security, and only when the damage is done does he 
wake to the fact that he might have averted the misfortune. 

Can this be done? Is there any prevention against the 
result of frost? Certainly there are means of preventing damages 
by frost, but it is necessary to have a certain amount of experience 
when taking these protective measures, so as not to cause a’still 
greater damage by the preventives than by the frost itself. 


102 ON THE POSSIBILITY OF PREVENTING DAMAGES BY FROST. 


Fertilizers, applied to the soil without judgment, medicines 
given to a patient with no discrimination, may cause serious 
injuries. The using of frost preventives must also be based on 
knowledge and experience. 

As, however, not only the climate generally in a country, 
but also local conditions influence the phenomena connected 
with the frost, it is impossible to lay down a general rule as to 
the methods for avoiding frost. My own experience of frost in 
Queensland is far too limited to allow me to speak of it with 
regard to this country; but my experience gathered in other 
countries will enable me to offer some suggestions as to the frost 
phenomena in general and the causes of its appearance. I 
will also give a short summary of the results of the frost investi- 
gations made in Sweden and Finland, the two coldest countries 
in the world where agriculture is carried on, the countries where 
Jack Frost is the worst foe of the agriculturist. 

My short notes are chiefly founded on the excellent works 
of Professor Selim Lemstrém, of Helsingfors, Finland, whose 
researches on the Polar light and night frosts, have made his 
name familiar to the scientific world. Through the courtesy of 
the present chairman of the Finnish Society of Science, Dr. Th. 
Homén, Professor of Applied Physics at the University of 
Helsingfors, I recently received some of his latest works on.the 
frost question, and they will enable me to discuss some of the 
latest results of experiments made. 


THE CAUSES OF NIGHT-FROSTS. 

Since the investigations of Wells in Surrey, England, in 
the beginning of last century, it has been known that the 
principal cause of night-frosts is the radiation of heat from 
the surface of the earth and from the substances that are upon 
it. Every body, the temperature of which is higher than that 
of its surroundings, suffers a constant loss of heat until temper- 
ature is the same everywhere. 

On a summer day the surface of the earth is heated by the 
sun, @.e., the earth obtains a surplusage of heat, which in 
various kinds of surfaces is different, and which penetrates more 
or less deeply into the ground, depending on its heat conducting 
power. When the sun’s effect has ceased, the earth and the 
objects on it begin to give out heat through radiation into 
space. The temperature of the earth sinks at first very rapidly, 
being higher in comparison with that of space, but later more 
slowly, depending on its surroundings. The radiated heat has 


BY P. OLSSON-SEFFER, PH. D. 1038 


to go through the atmosphere, which contains besides the prin- 
cipal ingredients of air, aqueous vapour, carbonic acid, small 
quantities of ozone, nitric oxides, ammonia and water in solid 
and liquid form, and particles of dust of various kinds. 

The gaseous matter round the earth hinders the radiation 
of heat, as it returns theheat to the earth more or less, and thus 
compensates for the loss. 

The degree of the fall of temperature caused by radiation 
depends on the following circumstances :— 


I.—Tue Aqueous Vapour OF THE AIR. 


The heat which radiates into space ccmes in most cases 
from plants on the surface of the earth, The plants receive 
heat from below by radiation from the bare earth, and by 
conduction through the plants themselves, and the heat escapes 
first to the atmosphere, on the state of which depends the 
degree of the fall of temperature, and secondly into space. 

From the latest researches on the powers of emission and 
absorption of gases we learn that while the pure and clear air 
is nearly diathermous for heat, even the small quantities of 
carbonic acid which are present in the atmosphere exercise a 
perceptible absorption, which yet is not determined with 
sufficient exactitude. 

It is probable that other gaseous matters in the air have 
very little influence, which also seems to be the case with the 
nitric oxides and the ammonia though they are the most 
absorbent gases. 

Aquzous Vapour anp WarER. 

Thinly scattered as the molecules of aqueous vapour are 
in the atmosphere, we might be inclined to disregard them as 
carriers to the waves of heat, and imagine that these undulations 
must be intercepted by the gases which form the great bulk of 
the atmosphere, and not by the aqueous vapour which is 
sparingly diffused among them. 

According to Tyndall, the action of a single atom of aqueous 
vapour is 10,000 times than that of a single atom of oxygen or 
nitrogen. According to others, the absorbing power of vapour 
of water on the dark rays of heat is hardly greater than that of 
air. Concerning the power of liquid water, that is to say in 
this case condensed vapour, all agree that it is great and 
attains nearly 90 per cent. of the radiated heat. 

Although dust or the solid particles of different kinds in 
the air exists only to a small extent, its influence is still very 


104 ON THE POSSIBILITY OF PREVENTING DAMAGES BY FROST. 


great. Acknowledging the fact that clear air and transparent 
vapour do not radiate or absorb in a marked degree, the principal 
radiation from the atmosphere itself falls in the very beginning 
on these solid particles, and their action becomes that of leading 
into condensation of vapour, being first cooled down under the 
temperature of their surroundings and then attaining the dew 
point. When condensation has once begun radiation hastens 
towards the earth as well as into space, because the radiant 
power of the atmosphere is increased by the condensed vapour, 
and it is soon formed into a cloudy veil. 


This veil partly hinders the continued radiation from the 
earth, and lessens the loss of heat and thereby the fall of tem- 
perature, which stops at a point or continues to fall, though 
very slowly. 


The degree of humidity thus determines the fall of temper- 
ature ; the clearer and drier the air, the more intense the radia- 
tion and cooling. It is on account of the absence of this 
qualifying agent that the thermometric range is so enormous in 
Australia. A clear day and a dry day, however, are very differ- 
ent things. The atmosphere may possess great visual clearness 
while it is charged with aqueous vapour, or even water in 
condensed form, and on such occasions great chilling cannot 
occur by terrestrial radiation, 


During the first half-hour after sunset the fall of tempera- 
ture is rapid, but afterwards it becomes slower, for by degrees a 
cloudy veil, more or less transparent, arises through condensation, 
and gives back the greater part of the heat. This veil is such 
a serious hindrance to the radiation that, when appearing 
distinctly, the temperature on the surface of the earth will not 
sink under zero even in places sensitive to the frost. The 
warmer the summer day the more intense is the evaporation, 
the greater the amount of vapour in the air, and the thicker 
the veil of clouds. Considering that vapour in its turning from 
a gaseous into a liquid state gives out a great quantity of heat, 
the cause of this great effect will be easily understood. By 
preventing nocturnal radiation into space the clouds of vapour 
preserve many a tender plant from being nipped by the frosts. 


II.—The dust particles and the condensed vapour radiate 
heat, but the air itself only does so very slightly, and thus the 
cooling of the air results principally from its touching the ground 
and the plants on it. Hence the remarkable fact, that the air is 
coolest near the surface of the earth, and that its temperature 


BY P. OLSSON-SEFFER, PH. D. 105 


increases with the height. From this circumstance follows a 
particular series of movements in the air. The cooled air, by 
reason of its increased density, flows from the plants towards the 
ground, and slides down it towards the lower parts of the 
field, and from the mountains to the valley, where it accumu- 
lates, and if there is no issue it stays there. As this movement 
lasts the whole night the chilled stratum of air on the lowest 
places increases in depth, and the cooling is there much greater 
than on the places situated a little higher. This movement, 
which is a result of nocturnal radiation, ought not to be mistaken 
for such movements as are caused by a breeze however gentle. 
The direction of the particles of air in a wind always forms a 
little ancle with the surface of the ground, and hence results a 
warming effect caused by the mixing of the cold and warm 
layers of air, and then by the heat which the air conveys to the 
ground, because, owing to the oblique direction new particles 
always touch its surface. A horizontal movement will certainly 
be without effect, unless it sweeps away a thick layer of air. 
A breeze so gentle that it will scarcely move the leaves of a tree 
will produce a considerable increase of temperature. 


IJ].—Twe Rapiatinc oF Heat From THE GROUND TO THE 
PLANTS GROWING ON IT. 

In order to answer the question as to the effect of radiating 
heat from the earth itself during the night, we have only to 
consider a piece of ground with plants. Let us look at the 
phenomena arising here and exercising a perceptible influence 
on the temperature. 

From the fact that plants radiate more heat into space than 
they receive from the ground, the latter becomes warmer than 
the plants, and thus constitutes a source of heat the influence of 
which ought to be explained. 

The heat which the ground has received from the sun pene- 
trates into it, and is conducted during the night towards the 
surface, radiating thence to the plants. Different kinds of soil 
are in this respect very dissimilar, depending on the circumstance 
that the evaporation from the surface layer of the earth is rela- 
tively great. 

It is only in later times that attention has been directed to 
this phenomenon by the researches of R. Russell, E. Wallny, 
and §. Lemstrém. The latter has shown by actinometric experi- 
ments that heat which radiates from the surface of the earth 


after sunset is scarcely perceptible on a frosty night. 
K 


106 ON THE POSSIBILITY OF PREVENTING DAMAGES BY FROST. 


The influence of this radiated heat is diminished by the 
circumstance that it meets the short grass which generally 
covers the ground in places where preventives against the 
damage of frost might be used. This source of heat is without 
any influence and may therefore be neglected. 


LTV.—EvapoRATION. 


Every hour of the day water evaporates from the ground 
and the vegetation with more or less intensity, and thereby heat 
is consumed in considerable quantities. The degree of 
evaporation determines the degree of humidity in the atmosphere. 


The aqueous vapour thus formed is mixed mechanically 
with the surrounding atmosphere, exercising a pressure which 
may be measured by the weight of a column of mercury of a 
certain height in the same way as the pressure of the atmosphere 
is measured. The evaporation only continues until the 
surrounding air is saturated with vapour. 


Experiments show that the pressure of the aqueous vapour 
in case of saturation depends solely on temperature. 


The degree of evaporation again, and hence the quantity 
of vapour formed, depends on the followiug circumstances :— 


(a) It is proportional to the evaporating surface. 

(b) It is proportional to the difference between the highest 
pressure and the pressure ruling at the moment. 

(c) It is also inversely proportional to the pressure of air. 

(d) The quantity of moisture depends finally on the 
pureness and temperature of the evaporating fluid, as well as 
upon the temperature of the surrounding atmosphere and its 
pureness. 

The vapour can sometimes remain in this form even if the 
temperature has fallen beneath the dew point, just as a fluid is 
heated above the boiling point without turning into steam. 
These phenomena have their origin in the play of the forces of 
molecules, which play remains without influence if the air con- 
tains particles of dust, as is usually the case. 


If we follow the changes in the moisture of the atmosphere 
during a clear day we find the amount of vapour rising and 
falling with the temperature. The changes vary greatly in dif- 
ferent regions of the earth. We must make a distinction between 
a place on the sea coast and a place in a country without lakes. 

The smallest quantity of moisture is found in the atmos- 
phere about sunrise, increasing until 9 a.m., then falling till 


BY P. OLSSON-SEFFER, PH. D. 107 


about 2 p.m.; rising agair. till 8 p.m. and falling by slow degrees 
until morning. 


The degree of humidity determines the dew-point. When 
the temperature has fallen so low that the air is saturated, it 
cannot remain in form of vapour if the temperature is still 
falling, but turns into water. 


The evaporation ceases as soon as the dew-point is reached, 
as it probably does long before the temperature attains 32 deg., 
F., and instead of an absorption of heat by producing vapour, 
heat is now created by condensation. 


When summing up all the acting and counteracting causes 
of lowering of temperature on a clear night, we get among the 
former in the first place, radiation of heat; in the second place, 
movements in the air, caused by the cooling of air through its 
touching the plants and its running down into the lowest places. 

As counteracting causes we have in the first place condensa- 
tion of aqueous vapour in the atmosphere in general, by which the 
radiation is lessened ; in the second place condensation of aqueous 
vapour near the surface of the earth by which first dew and then 
hoar-frost is produced; and in the third place movements in the 
air in the form of slight breezes or faint draughts which mix the 
different strata of the air. 

All the other causes of the fall of temperature during a 
clear night may be regarded as of so small influence that they 
scarcely need to be taken into consideration. 

All these causes prevent the loss of heat from vegetation by 
radiation, making the fall of temperature produced by it 
slower and slower. At last it reaches a limit which cannot be 
exceeded, i.e., the heat emitted by the plants is then restored to 
very nearly the same amount. 

The causes of night-frosts have been the subject of special 
study not only by Lemstrém and Homén in Finland, but also by 
Hamberg and Juhlin in Sweden. 

We have now to consider the question—T'0 what temperature 
can plants be exposed without damaye? In this matter the 
experience is still very limited, especially as the general climatic 
conditions of a country influence the vegetation, and consequently 
the question has to be made a separate study for each country. 
‘Some important conclusions might still be derived from what is 
known at the present time. 

Numerous but by no means final researches have shown 
that temperatures between the freezing point of water on the 


108 oN THE POSSIBILILY OF PREVENTING DAMAGES BY FROST. 


one hand and about 112° F. on the other indicate those 
intensities of heat motion at which plant-life generally is still 
possible. It happens, however, occasionally, that certain pheno- 
mena of vegetation may still occur even below the freezing point 
of water, because from various causes the water contained in the 
cells only begins to crystallize at.a few degrees below zero. 
However these are isolated cases; in the great majority the 
vital movements in general only begin at a few degrees above 
the freezing point. 

When the temperature of any portion of a plant sinks below 
the minimum necessary for the production and continuance of 
the chemical processes of metabolism—that is to say, for the 
calling into action of the vital forees—a period of rest ensues 
which continues until the necessary thermal conditions are again 
restored in the tissues. Should the temperature sink considerably 
below 32° F., the plant is frosted. In other words, a portion of 
the water of imbibition in the cell-walls, and a portion of the 
water of the cell-sap separate in the form of ice-crystals, while 
a more concentrated solution with a lower freezing point remains 
behind in the liquid form. 


When the tissues of the leaves and in fact when any paren- 
chymatous tissues are frosted, pure water is withdrawn into the 
adjoining intercellular spaces, but the cells themselves do not 
generally freeze. The result is that the cells lose their turgidity 
and at the same time begin to droop. This explains the familiar 
phenomenon of lilies, hyacinths, &c., which have been caught 
by frost, being prostrated on the ground until the ice melts and 
the cells reabsorb the water into their interior and again become 
turgid, when the plants resume an erect position. 


As a rule when living plant tissues that contain much 
water are frosted—and this applies especially to young leaves 
and shoots that are affected by frost—large masses of ice are 
formed in certain regions, and notably underneath the epidermis 
of leaves and shoots and in the medulla. The tissues, however, 
remain entirely free of ice, merely shrinking in proportion to 
the quantity of water that is lost. These masses of ice consist 
of parallel prismatic crystals, which are arranged at right angles 
to the tissues from which the water has been abstracted. 

The cortical parenchyma of the shoot usually contains 
numerous intercellular spaces, especially along the line that 
marks the limits of the collenchymatous tissues of the outer 
cortex. Owing to the formation of a sheet of ice in this region, 


BY P. OLSSON-SEFFER, PH. D. 109 


a separation of the cortical tissues may take place which, bow- 
ever, may occasion but little damage to the plant. 


It is of importance to notice the resulting circumstances at 
the forming of ice. They are principally the releasing of the melting 
heat (according to Lemstrém 80 Cal. for every kilogram water) 
and the increase of volume. The heat released by the freezing is 
partly utilized by the plant, and the ice formed by the dew is a 
good coverlet which hinders further loss of heat. Thereby the 
freezing of the cellwater is for a short time prevented. If the 
loss of heat still continues the cellwater freezes and causes the 
death of the plant. 


When a thaw occurs in the frosted parts of a plant the 
tissues usually regain the conditions which characterized them 
before the frost appeared. As the water is set free by the 
melting of the ice it is slowly absorbed by the cell walls and the 
cell contents, so that when the cells have attained the temper- 
ature at which chemical processes are possible the normal 
conditions of imbibition have also been again restored, and the 
metabolic processes which were temporarily suspended are 
resumed under the influence of the higher temperature. The 
case is different, however, when the frosted parts of plants are 
rapidly thawed, as occurs for instance when they are suddenly 
warmed by the sun. The rapid accession of heat induces the 
ice in the intercellular spaces to thaw rapidly, and the ice water 
being but slowly absorbed by the cellwalls and protoplasm 
flows into the intercellular spaces and drives out the air, with 
the result that leaves which are suddenly thawed become trans- 
lucent. The normal conditions of imbibition have not been 
restored when the chemical processes start afresh under the 
influence of the rise in temperature. Instead of these processes 
assuming the normal features of metabolism, they lead to 
chemical decomposition in the comparatively dry and withered 
tissues. In other words the plant is dying. It is therefore 
emphatically to be reeommended that plants affected by night- 
frost should be protected against a too rapid thaw. 


Views have been divided as to the manner in which death 
of the plants is caused by frost. It was at one time admitted 
that destruction took place by the bursting of the walls of the 
vessels caused by the augmentation of volume which took place 
at the freezing. Hoffman attributes a part of the mechanical 
injury from freezing to the separation from the cell-sap of the 
air previously contained therein. Later researches have shown 


110 ON THE POSSIBILITY OF PREVENTING DAMAGES BY FROST. 


that the destruction is caused by the diminution of water which 
the protoplasm undergoes at freezing, as mentioned above. 


There has also been a controversy with regard to the time 
when frost proves fatal. While G6ppert concludes that death 
occurs during the continuance of the frost, Sachs is of the 
opinion that the tissues die only after they have thawed, and 
that a fatal issue depends very much on the manner and rate of 
thawing. The two views may to a certain extent be reconciled, 
for it is possible that during winter death occurs during the con- 
tinuance of the frost, whereas in the case of a summer night- 
frost it appears at the moment of thawing. 


All plants are not equally effected by a low temperature. 
Among our common European vegetables the potato is one of 
the most sensitive. Far less susceptible are the cereals, as oats, 
barley, rye, wheat; more sensitive pea, &c., at least during the 
first stages of growth. 


Certain plants are seriously injured by low temperatures 
which are considerably above the freezing point of water, but 
these are exceptional cases. In some of our familiar spring 
plants of Europe the leaves may be frozen and thawed without 
apparent mischief, but in general the thawing must take place 
slowly; if it proceeds rapidly the plant may be irreparably 
injured. There are however also well known cases in which 
plants may be thawed quickly without serious injury. Sachs has 
shown that the leaves of the cabbage, turnip, and certain beans, 
frozen at a temperature of from —5° C. to —7° C. and placed 
in water at 0° C. are immediately covered with a crust of ice, 
upon the slow disappearance of which they resume their former 
turgidity. If such frozen leaves are placed in water of + 75° C, 
they at once become flaccid. 


The behaviour of certain plants during exposure to low 
temperatures affords some of the best illustrations of the adap- 
tability of vegetation to its surroundings; and the question as 
to increasing the tolerance of a given species or variety to the 
adverse influence of cold by careful selection of seeds for a series 
of years has been successfully answered by cultivators in some 
northern countries of Europe. 


Apart from specific peculiarities we also find individual 
differences, and it is this fact which makes it possible for us to 
acclimatize plants. As the ability to resist frost varies amongst 


BY P. OLSSON-SEFFER, PH. D. 111 


individuals of the same species just like any other physiological 
or morphological peculiarity, it becomes possible to acclimatize 
a tender plant by propagating hardy varieties. 


We have already mentioned the lowest temperature at which 
perceptible growth takes place, but this minimum does not 
necessarily suffice for the developement of chlorophyll, or for 
assimilation, or for the irritability of motile organs and so 
forth ; and when this is determined for one species of plant, the 
lower zero points of these functions in another species are by no 
means necessarily the same. The diversity of the lower zero- 
points of the various functions may however bring it about 
that at certain lower temperatures the various functions no 
longer work harmoniously together, so that pathological con- 
ditions are induced. It is observed in northern countries that 
the young leaves of cereal plants grow in the early spring, but in 
spite of bright illumination they remain yellow, because the 
lower limit of temperature for growth is not so high ag that for 
the development of chlorophyll. 


Not only the low temperature but also the length of its 
duration will be decisive for the destiny of the plant. We have 
no exact observations as to the length of time during which the 
vitality of a frozen plant persists. It is stated that after the 
recession of a glacier in Chamouni several plants which had 
been covered by ice for at least four years resumed their growth. 


If the rays of the sun immediately after its rising reach the 
frozen plant, the ice will not only melt but also evaporate, 
consuming a great quantity of heat. The greatest part of this 
heat naturally comes fiom the sun, but one part is still derived 
from the little store of the plant, and it is probable that the 
last determining cause of the damage done by a night frost often 
depends on this circumstance. It would be wrong to believe 
that whenever rime round the plants is produced, the sunrise 
being clear, damage by frost will instantly occur. Lemstrém 
has shown that plants possess a certain power of resistance 
against frost, and that they are not in general destroyed if they 
are covered with ice at a temperature of —2° C. near the ground 
by clear sunrise, the time of the duration of the low temperature 
not exceeding 14 hours. Kihlman and others have come to 
the same conclusion. 


112 ON THE POSSIBILITY OF PREVENTING DAMAGES BY FROST. 


On the basis of what we have pointed out above with regard 
to the causes of night frosts and their effect on the vegetable 
world, we get a 


TuHeory oF FRost PREVENTION 


that ravages by night-frosts can be avoided if we can restore to 
the field the amount of heat lost by radiation, or if we can 
reduge this radiation, or prevent a too rapid thawing of the 
frozen plants. 
We can effect a communication of heat to the plants in the 
following way :— 
(a) By a reduction of tae radiation by means of artificial 
clouds ; 
(>) By movements in the air which mix the different strata ; 
(c) By condensed moisture that affords heat. 
Nature herself offers certain opportunities which are of the 
greatest importance :— 
(a) The condensation of vapour continually going on during 
the night ; 
(6) The universal calm which is reigning during a frosty 
night. 
Now we will consider how this theory can be put into prac- 
tical use, and give a resumé of 


Tue Mernops or Frost PREVENTION. 


From time immemorial it has been known that frost will 
not occur when the sky is cloudy, and in many lands trials have 
been made to produce artificial clouds by burning different kinds 
of more or less cheap combustibles. The ancient Romans used 
this method as we learn from their literature, and in Peru the 
old inhabitants used smoke as a preventive against frost long 
before the country was taken possession of by Europeans. 


No completely successfu! method has however yet been 
devised, and smoke as a preventive has therefore got into dis- 
repute. In France, for instance, the people say it succeeds but 
always for the advantage of our neighbours, thus indicating that 
smoke and vapour pass to their neighboars’ fields. I have heard 
the same remarks in Queensland. But neither the French nor 
the Queenslanders have formed any association, as is the case in 
many parts of Germany, where attempts have been made to 
protect vineyards and orchards against both spring and autumn 
frosts by the burning of coal tar. 


BY P. OLSSON-SEFFER, PH. D. 1138 


Avoiding frost by means of smoke is since olden times well 
known to the peasantry in Sweden and Finland, and during the 
winter on many a frosty night well-applied smoke-producing 
fires have saved valuable crops. 


The formation of artificial clouds consisting of smoke and 
vapour must however be effected by fuel possessing the following 
qualities :— 

It must be handy and cheap ; 

It must be easily transportable ; 

It must be easily kindled ; 

It must burn slowly ; 

It must produce much smoke, vapour and heat ; 

It must not be so inflammable that danger of spreading the 

fire arises. 


It is of course very difficult to combine all these qualities in 
one combustible. Professor Lemstrém has constructed a kind 
of frost-torch for which he claims the said properties. 


These frost-torches consist of tubes of well-dried mud, and 
of kindling cylinders which can be inserted into the tubes. 
The torches may be placed in the field which is to be protected 
and remain there all the time frost may be expected or until 
they are used, for the rain affects only their surface and they 
dry very soon. Frost-torches of this kind can be manufactured 
at a price of less than 4d. apiece. 


For a description of these frost-torches and their use we 
can refer to a leaflet by the inventor ‘‘On the method of pro- 
viding against summer night frosts by the use of torches.” 


The writer has had experience of these frost-torches and 
found them to answer the purpose of producing a thick smoke. 
They do not however burn long, and it is necessary to 
determine the exact time when they are to be kindled, so as to 
be sure that they are still producing smoke at sunrise, when the 
danger is greatest. 


The inventor claims also for his frost-torches the property 
of producing heat to such an extent as to affect a movement in 
the air strata, thus bringing warmer air down for the benefit of 
the vegetation. This effect is however still an open question, 
and Homén among others is of a different opinion. 

Whatever kind of smoke producing fuel is used, it is how- 
ever necessary to be careful when placing the fires so as to get 
the use of all the natural conditions that will benefit, and to 


114 ON THE POSSIBILITY OF PREVENTING DAMAGES BY FROST. 


counteract those which are of an injurious character. Care 
must thus be taken that strong currents of cooled air are kept 
out from the lower parts of the field, etc. Local circumstances 
have to guide all the measures taken, and a careful study and 
thorough knowledge of the phenomenon is necessary for the 
successful use of this remedy. 


We have already hinted at the fact that a misapplied remedy 
often may be more injurious than the frost itself. We have 
witnessed several instances when big fires kindled after the 
freezing of the plants had taken place caused a too rapid thawing 
and subsequently death. Thesame fires kindled half-an-hour earlier 
would have saved the crop. 


We have full faith in the effectiveness of smoke as a frost- 
preventive, but the methods have to be developed, and for that 
purpose a co-operation of science and practice is wanted. 


On the principle of movements in the air as preventing 
injurious effects of frost, several methods have been tried. The 
Finns used to pass to and fro dragging a rope over the field, 
thereby causing a wave-like movement of the straw which results 
in a success, but this method is of course only possible on a 
small patch. 


We have not been able to ascertain from the records whether 
the Stiger Vortex gun has been used in connection with frost 
experiments, but it seems to me that shooting over a field during 
a night-frost would be successful through causing the air strata 
to be mixed, and thereby effecting a restoration to the field of 
heat lost by nocturnal radiation. 


ON FORECASTING OF NIGHT-FROSTS. 


For the practical agriculturist who wishes to avert from his 
crop the evil effects of frost, it is of the greatest importance to 
be able to interpret correctly the warning signs given by Nature 
herself before a frosty night, so that the protective measures be 
not needlessly precipitated. A night-frost never comes unawares, 
and its forewarnings are fortunately sure and easily interpreted. 


Every meteorological handbook contains information on 
this head, so we need not go into that question. As we said 
before the occurrence of frost and the phenomena connected 
therewith are however dependent on not only the climatic 
conditions in general, but also on local circumstances. A 
careful investigation of the frost question is necessary in every 
country where frost occurs, and the scientists, both the 


BY P. OLSSON-SEFFER, PH. D. 115 


meteorologist and the biologist, as well as the agriculturists 
have to work hand in hand with their colleagues in other parts 
of the world. 

We need scarcely say that, by reason of its geographical 
_ position, Australia is especially a good place for meteorological 
researches. The well established system of meteorological 
stations distributed all over the country and the high-level 
mountain observatories already in work—an_ undertaking 
showing great foresight on the part of its initiator—make it 
possible to forecast the weather conditions with an accuracy 
which cannot be surpassed in any other country. The rapid 
development of communication, railways, telegraphs, telephones, 
etc., will make it possible to spread intelligence of a threatening 
frost into n2arly every cottage, so that the farmer need not even 
in this instance rely upon his own judgment, but can throw 
his responsibility on more experienced shoulders. 


THE FROST INVESTIGATIONS IN SWEDEN AND 
FINLAND. 


The first scientific inquiry re the frost phenomenon in 
those countries was made by a Professor Hiillstrém, in Finland, 
1804. He published a prize essay, for a long time considered 
and used as a standard-work on this question. In Sweden 
Hamberg took up the question in the seventies, and Lemstrom 
started at the same time his investigations in Finland. The 
interesting results obtained by these scientific inquiries caused 
a general interest in the question. Homén made some valuable 
experiments during 1880 and has since devoted himself to the 
study of the frost phenomenon. - 

In 1892 the Geographical Society of Finland com- 
menced investigations about night frosts and their dis- 
tribution in the country. Circulars containing questions 
relative to the night frost and its effects on the vegetation were 
distributed to all parts of the country, and detailed reports were 
voluntarily sent to the Society. The information thus collected 
has been compiled and published from year to year in the 
Society’s bulletins by a prominent biologist, Professor Kihlman, 
and many a doubtful question has thus been settled. 

Meanwhile the Government has interested itself in the 
matter. Besides giving the atove mentioned Society all 
assistance in form of free postage, etc., a frost commission 
consisting of scientists and practical farmers was appointed 
for establishing an official scientific inquiry. 


116 ON THE POSSIBILITY OF PREVENTING DAMAGES BY FROST. 


Recognizing the importance of drainage as diminishing the 
danger of frost, the Government has set apart funds from 
which cheap loans are given for the special purpose of giving 
the farmers an opportunity of getting their fields properly 
drained. 


In Sweden the Government has taken similar steps. Last 
year for instance a sum of £23,000 was voted by the Riksdag 
for the current year for loans to be used for draining purposes, 
and for diminishing the frost danger, and every year a sum of 
£56,000 is placed to a fund from which small farmers get 
loans at 8 per cent. interest, and to the amount of 70 per cent. 
of the value of the proposed improvements. 


For nearly a century the Finnish Society of Science has 
through interested persons in every part of the country been 
making phenological observations which are of great importance 
in connection with the frost question, as showing the season of 
growth and the effects of the climate not only on the indigenous 
vegetation but also on the cultivated plants. In Sweden too 
similar phenological data have for a long time been available. 


A co-operative company was established a few years ago in 
Stockholm insuring against damages by frost, and this has 
proved to be a thorough success. 


SUGGESTIONS. 

As far as is known to the writer very little has been done in 
Australia in connection with the study of frost phenomena or 
with regard to practical attempts to prevent damages by night- 
frosts. Last year the late manager of the Biggenden State 
Farm, Mr. H. A. Tardent, strongly advocated in the papers the 
use of smoke as a frost preventive, and experiments were subse- 
quently made on the sugar fields of the Isis district. However 
lack of confidence in the method and insufficient co-operation 
between the neighbours seemed to have caused, if not a failure, 
at least not a satisfactory result. 


Co-operation is the great word in all matters connected 
with modern agriculture. If all the farmers in a neighbourhood 
combine, and after getting sufficient information from a meteor- 
ologist make up their minds to fight their common enemy, the 
frost, there is no doubt they could with a very small outlay save 
a considerable sum. But without co-operation, no success. 


In the future we shall have legislation to the effect that 
nobody must neglect his duty if he thereby injures his neighbour, 


BY P. OLSSON-SEFFER, PH. D. A 


and this will apply to all branches of social life; but we are not 
advanced so far yet. We cannot therefore advocate legislative 
proceedings with regard to frost prevention, but we must try to 
persuade the farmer not to leave all to an uncertain hope, but to 
_watch his own interest and that of his neighbour also. 

With all the advantages of the already named system of 
meteorological stations, and the Weather Bureau in Brisbane 
which makes forecasting of frost so available, and by reason of 
the geographical position of Queensland on the very edge of the 
tropics, there is hardly any country in the world where the frost 
phenomenon could be studied with such a success as here. Also 
the presence in Queensland of such a distinguished meteorolo- 
gist as Mr. C. L. Wragge is a reason for going into the study 
of this question. 

I do not know which Society in Queensland is the 
proper one for taking up the practical part of this question of 
preventing damages by frost ; but I think in addressing this body 
of scientific workers that I have placed the question in the 
hands of the men who are the most suitable for giving the 
matter a scientific attention, the result of which would be bene- 
ficial not only to this country but to the whole humanity. 


CONTRIBUTIONS TO A BIBLIOGRAPHY ON NIGHT 
FROSTS. 
1. Aitken: in Forschungen, a.d., G.d. Agrikulturphysik, IX. 
1886; XI. 1888. 
2.-Angstrém: in Nova Acta, R.S.S. Upsaliensis. Ser. III., 


Vol. 1, 1855. 

3. ——: in Bihang till K. Svenska Vet. Akad. Handl. Bd. 
Poy Afd1. No. 10, 1890. 

4, ——: Beitriige zur Kentniss der Absorption der Wirme- 


strahlen durch die verschiedenen Bestandteile der 
Atmosphire. Bihang till K. Svenska Vet. Akad. 
Handl. Bd. XV., No. 9, 1891. 

5. Arrhenius Svante: Ueber den Hinfluss des atmosphiirischen. 
Kohlensiuregehalts auf die Temperatur der Erdober- 
fliche. Bihang till K. Svenska Vet. Akad. Hand). 
hae wt. Afd. I. No, 1, 1896. 


6. —— On the influence of Carbonic Acid in the air upon the 
temperature of the ground. Phil. Mag., April, 1896, 
p. 286. 

7. —— Naturens varmehushallning. Nordisk  Tidskrift. 


Stockholm, 1896, p. 121. 


118 


10. 


12. 


12. 


26. 


ON THE POSSIBILITY OF PREVENTING DAMAGES BY FROST. 


—— Les oscillations seculaire de la temperature A la 
surface terrestre. Extrait de la Revue générale des 
Sciences du 15 Mai, 1899. Paris, 1899. 

Batelli : in Forschungenaufd. Geb. d. Agrikulturphysik. 


Bd) ATV, 1890. 
von Bezald: Zur Thermodyna mik der Atmosphaere. 


Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Akademie, 1888, 1890, 
1892. 

——_— : Der Wiirmeaustausch an der Erdober flaiche und in 
der Atmosphire. Litzungsberichte der Berliner Aka- 
demie, 1892, p. i139. 

Bialoblocki : in Forschungen a. d. Geb. der Agrikultur- 
physik. Bd. VIL., 1884. 


. Boussingault: Agronomie, Chimie agricole et Physiologie IL., 


p. 878. (De lefficacité de la fumé pour préserver les 
vignes). Paris, 1861. 


. Brickner: in Meteorolog. Zeitschrift, 1890. 


Chistoni: in Geitschrift fiir Meteorologie. Bd. XVII. 
1882, p. 12. 


. —— : in Forschungen a. d. Geb. d. Agrikulturphysik. 


Ba. V., 1882. 


. Chwolson: Uber den gegenwartigen Zustand der Akti- 


nometrie. Repert. f. Meteorologie. Bd. XV. No. 1. 
1892. 

Colley, Michkine a. Kazine: in Comptes Rendus. T.C. 
AIT. £e0k. 

Crova : Various contributions in Comptes Rendus. T. 
XCOVIII.—CXII., 1884-1891. 


. Dalton: in Gillberts Annalen. Bd. XV., 1808, p. 122. 
. Davy 8. Marié : Meétéorologie et Physique agricoles. Paris, 


1575. 


. Dines, S: Geitschrift fur Meteorologie, Bd. XV., 1880, 


p- 380. 


. Ebermayer: Die physikalischen einwirkungen des Waldres 


auf Luft und Boden. Aschaffenburg, 1873. 


. Ebert, O: Die Transpiration der Pflanzen und ihre 


Abhangigkeit von iusseren Bedingungen. Marburg, 


1889. 
. Ekholm, Nils : Undersékningar i hygrometri. Upsala, 
1888. 


—— : On the variations of the climate of the geological 
and historical past and their causes. Journ. R. 
Meteor. Soc. XXVII.; 1901. 


27. 


28. 
29. 


30. 


98. 


32. 


33. 
34. 
35. 
36. 
37. 


38. 
39. 


40. 


41. 
42. 
43. 


44, 


45. 
46. 


47, 


BY P. OLSSON-SEFFER, PH. D. 119 


Eker: in Forschungen a.d. Geb. d. Agrikulturphysik, Bd. 
VII., 1884, p. 1. 


Frank: Pflanzenkrankheiten, 1879. 


Hallstrém: Om nattfroster i Finland 2. Ed. Helsing fors, 
1851. 


Hamberg: Om nattfrosterna 1 Sverige aren 1871, 1872, 
1873. Upsala universitets arskrift, 1874. 


——: La température et l’humidité de l’air a différentes 
‘hauteurs observées a Upsal pendant l’été de 1875. 
Nova Acta R.S.S. Upsaliensis. Ser III., Vol. X., No. 
4, 1879. 

—: De l’influence des foréts sur le climate de la Suéde. 
Bibang t. Domianstyrelsens beriittelse 1884. Stock- 
holm, 1885. 

Hann, J.: Handbuch der klimatologie. 2te Aufl. Stutt- 

gart, 1897. 

: Lehrbuch der Meteorologie Leipzig, 1901. 

Hoffman: Grundziige der Pflanzenklimatologie, 1875. 

von Héhnel: in Forschungen a.d. G.d. Agrikulturphysik. 
Bd I. 1878, Bd IV. 1881. 

Homén, Th.: Bidrag till kinnedom om nattfrostfenomenet, 
Bidr. t.k. om Finlands natur o. folk. H. 40, 1883. 

——: Our nattfroster. Helsinfors, 18938. 

— : I fragan om nattfrosterna. Ofv. af Finska Vet. Soc. 
Forh Bd XXXVIL., 1894. 

—: Bodenphysikalische und Meteorologische Beobachtun- 
gen mit besonderer Berticksichtigung des Nacht frost- 
phinomens. Berlin, 1894. 

— : Der tagliche Warmeumsatz im Boden und die Wirmes- 
trahlung zwischen Himmel und Erde. Leipzig, 1897. 

Hutschins: Meteorologische Zeitschrift. Bd. IX., 1892. 

Juhlin: Sur la température nocturne de l’air a4 differentes 
hauteurs. Nova Acta, R.§.S. Upsaliensis. Ser. III., 
vol; WIV... 2; No. 5,.1891. 

Kammermann: Meteorologische Zeitschrift. Bd. III., 1886, 


p. 124. 
Kopp: Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie. Suppl. Bd. III., 


1865. 
(ihlman, A. O.: Nattfrosternai Finland, 1892. Fennia8, 4. 
Helsingfors, 1893. 
——: Nattfrosterna i Finland, 1893. Fennia 10,8. Hel- 
singfors, 1894. 


120 


48. 


49. 


50. 


51. 


52. 


53. 


54. 


55. 


56. 


57. 


58. 


59. 


60. 


61. 


62. 
63. 


64. 


65. 


ON THE POSSIBILITY OF PREVENTING DAMAGES BY FROST. 


—— : Nattfrosterna i Finland, 1894. Fennia 12, 4. MHel- 
singfors, 1895. 

Képpen: Versuch einer Klassifikation der Klimate, vorzugs- 
weisenach ihren Beziehungen zur Pflanzenwelt. Leip- 
zig, 1901. 

Lang: Welche Zuverlissigkeit besitzt die abendliche Than- 
punkts-Bestimmung als Anhaltspunkt fiir Stellung der 
Nachtfrost-Prognose ? Beobachtungen der Meteo- 
rologischen Stationen im Kénigreich Bayern Jahrg. 
X. Auh. I., 1888. 


—: Forschungen auf d. G. Agrikulturphysik. Bd. L, 
1878, p. 111. 

Langer: Forschungen auf d. G. Agrikulturphysik. Bd. V., 
1882, p. 105. 

Lemstrém, S.: Om sommarnatt frosterna och meddlen att. 


forekomma deras hiirjningar. Finsk Tidskrift. T.IX., 
1880, p. 81. 

——: Om nattfrosterna och medlen att forekomma deras 
hirjningar. Helsingfors, 1893. 

——: On night frosts and the means of preventing their 
ravages. Helsingfors, 1893. 

——: Om sittet att forekomma nattfrostens hiarjningar 
genom facklar. Helsingfors, 1893. 

——: Uber eine Methode Schiiden durch Nachtfroste mit- 
telst Fackeln vorzubeugen. Helsingfors, 1893. 

Ceyst: Uber die Bodentemperatur in Pawlowsk, Repert, 
fir Meteorologie, Bd. XIII. No. 7, 1890. 

Littrow: in Sitzungsberichte der Weiner Academie, Bd. 
LXXI. Abth. 2., 1875. 

Masure: in Forschungen, a.d. Geb., d. Agrikulturphysik. 
Bd. IV., 1881., Bd. V., 1882. 

Maurer: in Zeitschrift d. Oesterr, Ges. f. Meteorologie. 

Bd. XX, 1885. 

: in Sitzungsberichte der Berliner Academie, 1887. 

Mayer: in Forschungen auf d., Geb. d., Agrikulturphysik. 
Bd. TIE; 1880.9 Bd? Xtye, teat: 

Miiller-Thurgau : Forschungen, a.d., Geb. d., Agrikultur- 
physik, Bd. III., 1880; Bd. V., 1882; Bd. VI., 1888; 
Bd. IX., 1886. 

Oltmanns, S.: Uber die Wasserbewegung in der Moospflanze 
u. ihren Einfluss a.d. Wasservertheilang im Boden. 
Breslau, 1884. 


66. 
67. 


68. 
69. 
70. 
is 
2. 


73. 


74. 


75. 
76. 
77. 
os 
79. 
80. 


81. 
82. 


83. 
84. 
85. 


86. 


BY P. OLSSON-SEFFER, PH. D. 121 


Pfeffer: Pflanzenphysiologie. 1881. 

Rubenson: Om temperatur ach fuktighetsf6rhallandena i 
de nedersta luftlagren vid daggens bildande. Ofy. K. 
Sv. Vet. Akad. Handl. 1875, No. 1. 

Russel: In Nature. Dec., 1891. 

Sachs: Die Entleerung der Blatter im Herbst. Flora, 
1863. 

——: Die vortbergehenden Starre-Zustande periodisch 
beweglicher und reizbarer Pflanzenorgane. 1863. 
——: Uber die Temperaturgrenzen der Vegetation. Flora, 

1864. 

—: Uber den Hinfluss der Tempertur auf das Ergriinen 
der Blatter. Ibid. 

——: Krystallbildungen bei dem Gefrieren u. Veranderung 
der Zellhatite bei dem Aufthauen saftiger Pflanzen- 
theile. Ber. d. kgl. Sachs. Gesellsch. der Wiss. Feb., 
1860. 

—: Untersuchungen tiber das Erfriesen der Pflanzen. 
Die landwirthsch. Versuchstationen. Dresden, 1860. 
Hb. 

——: Lehrbuch der Botanik, 1868. 

——: Physiologische Untersuchungen iiber die Abhianzigkeit 
der keimung von der Temperatur. Jahrb. fir 
Wiss. Bot. Bd. II., 1860. 

Savélief: in Comptes Rendus T.C. VIII., 1889; T.C. X.,. 

feed: 1.0. XIT., 1891. 

Schiibeler: Die Culturpflanzen Norwegens, 1862. 

Soldner : in Gilberts Annalen Bd XVII., 1804. 

Sorauer: Forschungen a. d. Geb. d. Agrikulturphysik, Bd. 
III., 1880. 

Sprung, S.: Lehrbuch der Meteorologie, Hamburg, 1885. 

Stefan: in Sitzungsberichte der Wiener Akademie. Bad. 
LXVIII., Abth. 2, 1871. 

— —: Versuche uber die Verdampfung. Ibid. Bd LXVIII., 
Abth. 2, 1874. 

Stelling, S.: Beobachtungen tiber Verdunstung in Tiflis von 
A. Noschel. Repert. f. Meterologie, Bd. V., No. 9, 1876. 

—--: Uber den jiihrlichen Gang d. Verdunstung in Russ- 
land. Ibid. Bd VII., No. 6., 1880. 

——: Uberdie Abhingigkeit der Verdunstung des Wassers 
von seine Temperatur u. von d. Feuchtigkeit u. Beweg- 
ung der Luft. Ibid. Bd. VIII. No. 3, 1882. 


122 ON THE POSSIBILITY OF PREVENTING DAMAGES BY FROST. 


87. ——: Uber die Bestimmung der absoluten Grosse der Ver- 
dunstung voneiner freicn Wasserflaiche. Ibid. Bd. VIIL., 
1888. 

88. Stockbridge: in Forschungen a. d. Geb. d. Agrikulturphysik. 
Bd. III., 1880. 


89. Trabert: in Meteorologische Zeitschrift. Bd. IX., 1892. 

90. Warming, Eug.: Lehrbuch der dkologischen Pflanzengeo- 
graphie. Berlin, 1896. 

91. Wells: An essay on dew, ete. London, 1815. 

92. Weilenmann: Die Verdunstung der Wassers-Schweiz meteo- 
rol. Beobacht., Jahrg. XII. Ziirich, 1877. 

93. Wosikof: Die Klimate der Erde, 1887. 

94. ——: Der Hinfluss einer Schneedecke auf Boden, Klima u. 
Wetter, 1889. 

95. Wallny: in Forschungen, a.d. G.d. Agrikulturphysik. Bd. L., 
1878; Bd. IV., 1881 ; Bd. IX., 1886; Bd. XI., 1888 ; 
Bd. XII., 1889; Bd. XV., 1892. 


IMMUNITY, NATURAL AND ACQUIRED. 


By WILTON W. R. LOVE, M.B. 


(Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 16th August, 1902). 


Immunity is the converse of predisposition. It may be classified 
under two great subdivisions, viz., Concenrran (natural) and 
AcqQuiRED. 

Congenital (natural) immunity may be an _ individual 
peculiarity or it may be common to the species (racial), and 
in like manner acquired immunity may be temporary or 
permanent; in the latter case even it may be transmissible 
from parent to offspring, hence the term natural is more correct 
than congenital. Let us take first :— 

AcqurreD Immunity.—This means that an animal sus- 
ceptible to an infectious disease may become protected against 
subsequent infection. This may happen in several ways. 

(A) By Recovery from an attack. 

(B) By inoculation (a) with attenuated virus, z.e., living 
organisms of low virulence, as in vaccination against small-pox ; 
(b) with small and repeated doses of living and fully virulent 
organisms, as in the preparation of horses for anti-diphtheritic 
serum ; (c) with toxins or bacterial products, as in anti-plague 
prophylactic, i.e., chemical vaccination ; (/) with serum derived 
from protected animals, ¢.y., anti-diphtheritic, anti-tetanic, anti- 
rabic ; (ec) by feeding animals with the living organisms or their 
products—this is merely a sub-phase of the preceding inocu- 
lation methods of conferring immunity. 

Let us consider each of these methods of establishing an 
acquired immunity in more detail. 

(A) The natural predisposition to an infective disease may 
be removed by recovery from an attack. To use Kanthack’s 
words, ‘‘ this is Nature’s way.’’ Certain infective diseases confer 


124 IMMUNITY, NATURAL AND ACQUIRED 


a protective effect against subsequent attacks of the same disease, 
either completely or partially, as regards that individual, e.y., 
an attack of small-pox which has been recovered from, 
guarantees immunity from another attack throughout a life-time ; 
e.g., also measles, scarlet fever, syphilis, yellow fever, whooping 
cough—while attacks of typhoid fever, pneumonia, and diphtheria 
only confer a temporary insusceptibility. This partial immunisa- 
tion is also shewn in races as well as individuals, ¢.y., measles has 
been endemic among European races probably for centuries, 
and as a consequence an ordinary attack of measles in a child 
is looked upon as a trivial and inevitable ailment, thanks to the 
partial immunity handed down from ‘long series of ancestors 
who have passed through the illness, but let this comparatively 
trivial disease be imported into a community where the disease 
has been unknown, and the result is a virulent epidemic with 
an appalling mortality, e.y., the introduction of measles among 
the Fijians some 35 years ago resulted in a mortality of nearly 
40,000 of the native race. Similarly chicken-pox, a trivial 
disease of children, becomes almost as deadly as small-pox 
among coloured races when first introduced. Our experience in 
Australia shews that typhoid fever has only a partial protecting 
power, as most medical men can point to cases where two or 
three or even more attacks have been sustained by the same 
individual. In India, similarly, plague has been shewn to 
affect an individual on two or more occasions. 


(B) It is in an attempt to imitate this method of Nature 
that man has devised various ways of giving a slight dose of the 
disease to protect from severer attacks. This was recognised 
long ago in the introduction into England of inoculation with 
the scabs of small-pox, which set up a mild attack of small-pox. 
A safer method, because more under control, is the— . 


(a) Inoculation with attenuated virus, i.e., with living 
organisms of a low degree of virulence. It must be known to 
all of you that bacteriologists have long since demonstrated the 
possibility of raising or lowering the virulence of various organ- 
isms by selection of cultures, or by what is the same thing, 
selection of animals through which to pass the micro-organism.- 
Practically every organism when cultivated for some time 
outside the body loses its virulence, and in the case of some 
this is very marked indeed, e.y., pneumococcus. Pasteur found 
u the ease of chicken cholera that when cultures were kept 
for a long time under ordinary conditions, they gradually lost their 


BY WILTON Ww. R. LOVE, M.B. 125 


virulence, and that when subcultures were made the diminished 
virulence persisted. Such cultures can be used for protective 
inoculation, and are generally known as vaccines, from their 
analogy to the action on the human organism of the material 
derived from cow-pox. Again, an organism may be ‘‘attenuated,” 
that is, reduced in virulence by passing through another animal, 
e.g. Burdon Sanderson and Greenfield shewed that anthrax 
bacilli when inoculated into guinea pigs became attenuated, and 
could then be used for protective inoculation of sheep and cattle ; 
c.p., also Pasteur’s experiments with swine-plague, where rab- 
bits were used to attenuate the bacilli. Similarly some organ- 
isms become diminished in virulence if grown at an abnormally 
high temperature, or in the presence of weak antiseptics. 
Exaltation of the virulence on the other hand, may be brought 
about chiefly by the method of cultivating the organism from 
animal to animal—the method of “‘ passage’’ discovered by Pasteur 
—the animals used are mostly rabbits or guinea-pigs. This 
method can be applied to the organisms of typhoid, cholera, 
pneumonia, to streptococci, and staphylococci. Similarly the 
above methods may be combined, e.y., by injections of cultures at 
first attenuated and afterwards more virulent, and by increasing 
the doses a high degree of immunity may be gained. Haffkine’s 
anti-choleraic injection depends upon this combination—the virus 
(i.e., the cholera organisms) is first attenuated by passing a 
current of sterile air over the organisms, which are then passed 
through guinea pigs by injection into the peritoneum. The 
virulence is thus increased 20-fold, 7.¢., i,th of the ordinary 
lethal dose of the culture is sufficient to kill. Animals are first 
treated with the attenuated virus, and then gradually with the 
“exalted” virus. This process has been tried by Haffkine on 
the human subject with marked success. Three injections of 
attenuated virus are first given, and then virus ewvalté is used. 


(6) Inoculation with small and repeated doses of fully 
virulent organisms. The animal tissues can deal with asmall 
dose of virulent organisms; this produces a small amount of 
immunity in the animal, which is taken advantage of to intro- 
duce a larger dose, and so on, but up to a certain point only— 
for any animal, however highly immunised, can be killed by a 
sufficiently large dose; in other words, any individual, provided 
the species is susceptible to a given disease, may succumb to an 
attack of that disease if the dose be sufficiently large and 
virulent. 


126 IMMUNITY, NATURAL AND ACQUIRED 


(c) By inoculation with toxins or bacterial products. This 
is a most important advance, and has done much to disprove 
Metschnikoff’s doctrine of phagocytosis as being the means by 
which natural protection was acquired by the animal. 
Virulent organisms are grown in a culture medium for a certain 
time and then filtered off through a Pasteur-Chamberland filter ; 
the filtrate then contains the toxins elaborated by the bacilli. 
This can be standardised and used with the same exactitude in 
dose as an alkaloid. The toxin is administered to the animal at 
first in small doses, and gradually increased—for example, 
Calmette and Fraser’s experiments with snake poison to produce 
anti-venene. Inmost cases the toxins are in solution, but a 
similar result may be obtained by sterilising the cultures, and 
not filtering, but injecting the dead bacilli with the culture 
medium, as in Haffkine’s plague prophylactic.—(The method 
of preparation of MHaffkine’s plague prophylactic was here 
explained.)—Albumoses in the beef-tea perhaps cause fever; an 
improved method by two Italian scientists has led to the 
production of a crystalline substance which causes no 
fever. By this method a high degree of immunity can be pro- 
duced, but as before, only up to a certain point. This is 
practically a chemical process, and is comparable to the toleration 
of laudanum in the devotees of the opium habit or of arsenic in 
the Styrian peasants. Similar results, but on a more restricted 
scale, have been obtained by feeding animals on toxins or dead 
bacterial cultures. The important axiom to be drawn from this 
method is, to quote Kanthack, ‘“‘ immunity therefore implies 
resistance both to bacteria and their products.” 


(@) Immunity may be procured by inoculating an animal 
with serum derived from animals protected by a previous attack 
or immunised by the above methods. Practically, this is the 
method which has found most general use in the prevention and 
treatment of certain infectious diseases. Take, as example, 
protective inoculation against diphtheria by the injection of 
serum from horses highly immunised by injections of cultures of 
diphtheria bacilli. This must not be confused with the curative or 
antitoxic effect of anti-diphtheria serum, as that belongs to a 
different category, though it may be well now to refer to this part 
of theisubject. Thechiefof these methods are treatment of diphthe- 
ria by antitoxic serum, of tetanus by anti-tetanic serum, immun- 
isation of cattle against tick fever by the injection of serum ob- 
tained from cattle which have survived an attack. The draw- 


BY WILTON W. R. LOVE, M.B. 127 


back to this method of protection lies in the fact that the pro- 
tection is usually short-lived, conferring immunity only for 
a few weeks. This can be overcome by repeated injections, 
which however interferes with its usefulness on account 
of the inconvenience and expense of repeated injections. 
At the Plague Hospital here some of the resident 
medical officers were in the habit of keeping themselves 
immunised by taking fortnightly injections of the plague 
curative serum. Some of the sera may have both an immunis- 
ing effect and a curative effect, although not having bactericidal 
properties. The introduction of serum from immunised 
animals as a method of treatment marks one of the most 
important strides in preventive medicine, and we have good 
reason to hope that as yet the method is only in its infancy. 
The most efficacious of these antitoxins has been the anti- 
diphtheritic serum derived from horses highly immunised with 
cultures of living diphtheria bacilli, with which the name of 
Behring must ever be conspicuously connected. The death-rate in 
the Children’s Hospital in Brisbane for example has been brought 
down from 45 per cent. to 9 per cent., and it is belived that 
every case may be saved if the treatment can be given sufliciently 
early. After the disease has existed for several days or more, 
in addition to the poisonous effect of the diphtheria toxin, 
there is often the result of a mixed infection super-added, e.q., 
broncho-pneumonia, septic sloughing of the throat, etc., due to 
the presence of organisms other than the diphtheria bacilli which 
may cause a fatal issue in spite of the diphtheritic toxin having 
been neutralised by the serum. 


Another but less effectual anti-toxin is the anti-tetanic 
serum—from the use of which undoubted recoveries have taken 
place, both in human beings and horses—but as cases are not 
usually recognised until the toxin has already attacked the 
central nervous system, and as the ratio of anti-toxin necessary 
to counteract the effect of the toxin increases enormously with 
every few hours, the curative effect is far below that of 
diphtheritic anti-toxin. Greater success would be expected 
from immunising doses of tetanic anti-toxin in lacerated wounds 
where the development of tetanus might be expected. 


Anti-streptococcic serum has been used with success against 
erysipelas, post-mortem wounds, puerperal fever, and in general 
septic infection due to streptococci—but is powerless against 


128 IMMUNITY, NATURAL AND ACQUIRED 


septic conditions due solely to staphylococci or to mixed in- 
fections of streptococci and staphylococci. 


Anti-typhoid, anti-cholera, anti-pneumonic, anti-plague, 
and other sera are all prepared in an analogous manner, and 
have given in some instances valuable results. The only one 
of which we have any experience is the anti-plague serum, and 
we have had ample opportunities of witnessing its effects, 
sometimes magical, in cases of bubonic plague. 


Another example is the anti-rabic serum introduced by 
Tizzoni and Pasteur, where conspicuous success has followed 
the use of this serum in persons bitten by rabid animals in whom 
hydrophobia would otherwise have developed. 


To quote Kanthack: ‘‘ There is a striking difference, how- 
ever, between immunity produced by inoculation of the bacteria 
themselves and their toxins, whether attenuated or not, and 
immunity produced by serum injections. In the former vase the 
animal gains its immunity after an active struggle with the 
disease or lesions following the injection or intoxication ; in the 
latter case there is no struggle with disease and no reaction; the 
animal remains passive while the immunity-conferring substance 
is applied to its tissues. On account of this essential difference, 
Ehrlich distinguishes active from passive immunity. Passive 
immunity is effected quickly, is less persistent, and varies with 
the amount of the serum used and with the degree of the 
immunity of the animal which supplies the serum. Active 
immunity, on the other hand, does not appear for days, not 
until the animal has passed through the reactive stage; then it 
becomes permanent, and is proportional to the intensity of the 
reaction rather than to the amount of vaccine used.” 


Lastly we come to the subject of Natural Immunity, which 
I will treat very briefly. I would call your attention tc two 
facts—(1) that there are a large number of bazteria—the so- 
called non-pathogenic bacteria, which, when introduced into an 
animal, cause no symptoms, unles- perhaps in very large doses, 
showing that the tissues and fluids of the animal body possess 
a bactericidal action against germs of low virulence; (2) that 
there are other bacteria, which are very virulent to some species 
of animals and harmless against others—anthrax, for example, 
fowls immune to tetanus, goats to tubercle, c.p., natural resis- 
tance to morphia in birds. This immunity must be due to a 
special power on the part of that animal of destroying the germ 


BY WILTON W. R. LOVE, M.B. 129 


or neutralising its toxins, or an insusceptibility to the action of 
the toxine. 

Different animals have different degrees of resistance or 
non-susceptibility to toxic bodies—a fact so far incapable of 
explanation. We must take this natural resistance for granted, 
and there is no evidence that for each case there is an anti-toxic 
body present which protects ; the serum of a fowl, for instance, 
does not protect another animal from tetanus, though the serum 
of a less susceptible animal in which a resistance equal to that 
of the towl has been artifically developed does possess anti-toxic 
powers. The resistance evidently lies in the tissues. 


With regard to the natural bactericidal powers, the 
powers seem to reside in phagocytosis and in the action of the 
serum, the latter deriving its virtue from substances derived 
from various glands, spleen, lymphatic glands, the gums, etc., 
and termed alexines. 


Having now discussed the various methods of conferring 
acquired immunity, there remain to be considered the hypo- 
theses which have been built up to explain the processes in the 
animal body by which the immunity is gradually developed. 
None of them, however, are capable of satisfying every aspect 
of the case. 

(1.) Pasteur’s theory of exhaustion—in other words, it is 
assumed that there are certain substances in the body of a living 
animal necessary for the existence of a particular germ, and 
that this is used up by the germs which then die out. This is 
of course easily disproved by the discovery of passive immunity 
conferred by the injection of the serum of an immunised animal, 
i.e., @ small quantity of serum in which the pabulum has been 
exhausted cannot lead to its exhaustion in the serum of another 
animal into which it is introduced. 

(2.) Theory of retention which supposes that the toxins 
elaborated by the bacilli gradually kill them—as happens in cul- 
tures in test tubes: this does not explain how it is that acquired 
immunity may last for years, as it 1s unreasonable to suppose 
that these toxins are retained in the system during that time. 

(3.) Phagocytosis—Metchnikoff's wonderful theory, which 
Credits the lencocytes with bactericidal powers. This theory has 
demonstrated one of the chief methods possessed by the body in 
dealing with invading organisms, but does not explain the con- 
ferring of immunity by means of serum injections or chemical 
vaccines. 


1380 IMMUNITY, NATURAL AND ACQUIRED 


(4.) Humoral theory—developed by Behring—so far as 
active immunity is concerned it may be held as proved that the 
production of immunity is accompanied by changes in the blood 
serum, t.e., by the development of anti-microbie or anti-toxic 
substances. No doubt, however, such substances are produced, 
not simply by chemical changes in the body fluids, but are 
products of cellular action brought about by the presence of the 
bacteria or their toxins. What cells are these? Metchnikoff 
says leucocytes, but when a horse is immunised against diphtheria 
its serum possesses a certain degree of anti-toxic power, so does 
the serum derived from subsequent bleedings, although fresh 
lencocytes have been generated after each bleeding. Hence, fresh 
anti-toxin must have beea produced after each bleeding withou 
the introduction of fresh toxin.  Anti-toxin, or the immunity 
conferring substance, must therefore be a direct product of the 
tissue cells by virtue of acquired secretory changes, and its 
action must also be directly cellular. 

I must apologize for this sketchy survey of an intricate subject 
—a subject which is constantly presenting new phases with 
increased research, but one which has a peculiar fascination for the 
thoughtful student as well as for the practical man. 


DOMESTIC WATER SUPPLY OF BRISBANE, WITH 
SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE PRESENCE 
OF ZINC IN TANK WATERS 


By J. BROWNLIE HENDERSON, F.L.C., F.CS., 


GOVERNMENT ANALYST. 


(Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 13th Sept., 1902.) 


In considering the question of our domestic water supply, 
I intend after giving merely a short general view of the subject 
to deal as fully as I can with one particular item—the presence 
of zinc in tank waters. 


As by far the most important use of water in the household 
is for drinking, [ intend to confine my remarks mostly to that 
phase of the subject. 


The domestic water supply of Brisbane is drawn practically 
from three sources: (a) the Brisbane River water from Mt. 
Crosby, (+) the waters from Gold Creek and Enoggera Re- 
servoirs, which are for all practical purposes identical, and (c) 
rain water collected from galvanised iron roofs and stored in 
galvanised iron tanks. 


I have already commented on the Mt. Crosby and Enoggera 
waters in a report to the Brisbane Board of Waterworks, and a 
full copy of the report appeared at the time in the Brisbane 
Courier. Perhaps you might care to have your memories 
refreshed shortly as to the general properties of these two waters. 


The Brisbane River water is hard, varying from 9deg. 
to 18deg., and is therefore not suitable for washing, For 
drinking purposes, the hardness of the water, caused by the 


132 DOMESTIC WATER SUPPLY OF BRISBANE, ETC. 


presence of carbonates of lime and magnesia, has rarely been 
regarded as deleterious, in fact it is generally regarded as rather 
beneficial than otherwise, particularly by writers of text books. 
The lack of lime in a water supply has repeatedly been held 
responsible for rickets or weak legs in children, though if a 
child had to depend in any way on the lime it could extract 
from Mt. Crosby water at say 12deg. hardness it would 
fall far short of the necessary daily supply. The water at 12deg. 
would contain about 4 grains of carbonate of lime. If a child 
drank, say half-a-gallon a day, it would only imbibe 2 grains of 
lime, about as much as it would get in a pint of milk or 
4oz. of bread, while in the latter cases it would get it in the 
- form of bone-making phosphate and not as carbonate. Besides 
the hardness of Mount Crosby, there is always a danger, 
as in all river waters, of contamination with pathogenic 
germs. In the present sparsely populated state of the country 
this danger is small, though as the’ water is not filtered, 
if once contaminated it would be delivered in that state. 
There is always some vegetable matter present in the Mt. Crosby 
water, but it is only occasionally present in sufficient quan- 
tity to be objectionable. If filtered through a Pasteur, or similar 
filter, Mt. Crosby water could be considered a good and safe 
drinking water. 


Enoggera and Gold Creek waters are totally different in 
composition. There is not much mineral matter present, but 
there is a most objectionably large amount of vegetable matter in 
the water. The catchment area is granite, and is entirely reserved, 
so that the water runs into the reservoir in a-very pure state. 
Unfortunately our semi-tropical climate soon causes the water to 
teem with all sorts of minute animal and vegetable organisms. A 
drop of Enoggera surface water from a settling jar is a perfect 
aquarium under the microscope, and offers a splendid field of 
investigation for any enthusiastic biologist. It is almost certain 
that there are many species there which are not yet named or 
classified ; and as it is certain that some one or two forms give 
the Enoggera water its objectionable taste, useful scientific work 
iS waiting for some one to take it in hand. The alge and 
many of the other organisms die on removal from light, 
so when the water is passed into the mains the products 
of decay make themselves manifest in that most objection- 
able brown sediment with which most of us are only too 
familiar. The porous earthenware filters are practically useless 


BY J. BROWNLIE HENDERSON, F.I.C., F.O.S. 133: 


when applied to this water, as they choke up almost at once 
and after a short time become permanently choked. The Enog- 
gera water then, although not liable to be contaminated with 
typhoid, cholera, or other pathogenic germs, may be classed as. 
unsuitable for drinking. If the water is allowed to run until 
clear, the sample then collected, boiled, filtered, and allowed 
to stand for twenty-four hours, it is generally palatable, though 
even after this treatment it may have an objectionable odour. 


With Enoggera and Gold Creek waters nearly always, and 
Mt. Crosby sometimes unsuitable for drinking, the rain water 
collected from galvanised iron roofs in galvanised iron tanks 
is the principal source of drinking water in Brisbane, even 
where the other supplies are available. 


Organically tank water is nearly always very pure; in fact, 
I have never yet found a tank water as bad organically as the 
ordinary Enoggera or Mt. Crosby. The only objectionable ingredi- 
ent I have found in tank water is zinc. This metal is always 
present, generally in the form of carbonate, and varies in amount. 
from about 0:3 to 2 grains per gallon in ordinary waters, though 
water collected from new tanks or from new roofs, often contains. 
much more, and deposits a thick white sediment of hydrated 
zinc carbonate in the bottom of the tank. My main object in 
reading this paper to-night is to call the attention of our 
medical members to the presence of this zinc. I have at 
various times spoken to several medical gentlemen on the 
subject, but no one seems to have given it any attention. 
Now I do not in any way want to raise a scare, as_ that 
generally does more harm than good, but from my investi- 
gations on the matter I think it is well worthy of serious 
study, particularly in the case of medical men dealing with 
children. 


When I first realised that all the tank waters contained so 
much zinc I naturally felt alarmed, but concluded that as no 
one had ever noted poisonous effects from the use of such 
waters in Brisbane, there were no poisonous effects. When 
the Lead Poisoning Commission was appointed some years ago, 
as a member of the Commission I gave the matter a good 
deal of attention, and since then I have gradually been forced 
to the conclusion that the zinc may not be so harmless as is. 
generally believed. 


134 DOMESTIC WATER SUPPLY OF BRISBANE, ETC. 


Here is a list of the amounts of zine found in various 
samples of water collected in galvanised iron tanks from 
galvanised iron roofs :— 


Date. Grains zinc per gallon. 
13th February, 1899 0 2:0 
25th January, 1899 ste 1:0 
16th February, 1899 ae 1:0 
21st September, 1899 “0 1:0 (Maryborough). 
24th September, 1899 4c 1-0 (Wynnum). 
7th July, 1898 .. 4é 08 
7th July, 1898 .. ac 08 
20th July, 1898 .. ie 1:27 
6th February, 1898 ie 0°3 (Toowoomba). 
7th November, 1898 eG 0°75 
19th November, 1898 sip 1:0 
16th January, 1899 ae 1:0 


All these tank waters were examined in connection with 
obscure cases of lead poisoning among children, and in no case 
was lead found—in fact lead cannot remain in _ solution 
in presence of metallic zinc, so that one would not expect to 
find lead in solution in water stored in a galvanised iron tank. 
Many other waters were examined qualitatively in con- 
nection with the lead poisoning cases and all were found to 
Contain zine in solution. On 27th February, 1902, samples 
were tested as follows :— 


Two samples Upper Paddington :— 


(a2) Tank cleaned 9 months before .. 70 grains zine per gallon. 
Sept. 12, 1902—from same tank .. 2°35 + op “ 
(b) Tank not cleaned for atleast 5 years *90 - 53 - 


Sample from Milton :— 
Tank not cleaned for years... ae WR . 5 ne 


Sample from Kangaroo Point :— 

Tank not cleaned for years... sot, 32 +. 5, - 
Sample from Eagle Junction :— 

Tank cleaned 9 months before ~2 £00 5 a ae 

From these and other results it seems that tank waters 
contain on an average about one grain of zine per gallon. Just 
after rain this amount would probably be greater, but is not 
likely to rise above two grains for any length of time. The metal- 
lic taste of the zinc in the tank water is very noticeable to any- 
one not accustomed to drinking it. But for the presence of this 
zine ordinary tank water would be a very good drinking water. 
As it is, thorough boiling of the water throws all the zine out of 
solution, and if then filtered and allowed to stand for a day to 


BY J. BROWNLIE HENDERSON, F.I.C., F.C.S. 1385 


re-absorb air, tank water gives the safest and most palatable 
water that it is possible to have. 

Now with regard to the possibility of harmful results aris- 
ing out of the continued use of tank water containing zinc in 
solution I of course cannot speak with authority, but I will 
give the chief references that I have been able to find after a 
rather extended search, though unfortunately owing to the 
absence of any good library in Brisbane I have not been able to 
make the search as complete as I would have liked it to be. As 
it would be exceedingly inconvenient for any one in Brisbane to 
get the following books or journals for reference, I give the 
contents of each reference as fully as possible. 


Text Books. 


Most text books vaguely condemn the presence of zinc in 
drinking water. The following two may be taken as fair 
examples :— 

Mason’s ‘‘ Examination of Water,” 1899 edition, p. 80.— 
*‘Zine is not a cumulative poison, but its presence in water 
is nevertheless distinctly objectionable.”’ 

Davis’s ‘* Potable Water,” 1891 ed., p. 21.—‘‘ Galvanised 
iron pipes are also liable to render dangerous the water that passes 
through them; such waters contain zine, but the amount is 
generally very small.” 

The following references are much more informative :— 

Professor Dixon Mann's ‘* Forensic Medicine and Toxicology,” 
1898 ed., p. 469, states :-— 

‘‘ Chronic poisoning by zinc has been observed, chiefly in 
smelters of the metal. The symptoms to some extent resemble 
those produced by lead; derangement of the digestive organs, 
colic with constipation or more frequently diarrhea ; indications 
of peripheral neuritis have been observed. Gastric symptoms 
have resulted from drinking water or milk stored in zinc lined 
vessels.” 

Dr.. Thresh’s ‘* Water Supply,” 1896 ed., p.p. 10, 209, 
210, 211, and 418 :— 

‘* Waters which act on lead appear also to have the power 
of acting upon zinc, and of forming poisonous compounds 
which dissolve freely in the water. As the physical characters 
of the water are not altered, the presence of the metal may 
remain unsuspected, unless some obscure form of illness leads 
the medical attendant to have it examined. When water which 
contains an appreciable amount of zinc is heated in an open 


136 DOMESTIC WATER SUPPLY OF BRISBANE, ETC. 


vessel, before it commences to boil an iridescent film is observed 
upon the surface, sometimes giving rise to the impression that 
the water is ‘greasy.’ Such water should not be stored in 
zinc or galvanised iron vessels, or passed through galvanised 
iron pipes.”’ 

‘The River Pollution Commissioners mention that some 
polluted shallow well waters not only act upon lead violently, 
but continuously, and that several instances of poisoning from 
the use of leaden pump pipes had come to their knowledge. 
The one analysis given of such a water shows that it was far 
purer than the average of shallow-well waters, but that the 
temporary hardness was under 1°. When a galvanised iron 
pipe was substituted for the leaden one, the water, as might 
have been expected from its composition, became charged with 
zinc, and zine poisoning followed the lead poisoning. The so- 
called tin-lined lead pipes also yield lead to the water, inasmuch 
as the tin in the process of lining becomes alloyed with the 
lead. 

‘«« As previously stated, water which acts upon lead will also 
attack the zinc coating of galvanised iron. A case of poisoning 
from this cause recently came under my notice. The water 
supply to a newly-erected country house was derived from a 
spring asising at the edge of a patch of Bagshot sand. The 
water was piped from this spring to the house, a distance of 
half a mile, through galvanised iron pipes. The only child, 
who, prior to the removal into the new house, had been perfectly 
healthy, became a sufferer from obstinate constipation. At. 
length suspicion rested upon the water supply, probably because: 
an iridescent film always formed on its surface when exposed in 
open vessels, or when heated in an open pan. (This film is. 
very characteristic of the presence of zinc, and is often put down 
to a trace of oil or grease.) Upon analysis I found that the 
water contained about 8 grains of carbonate of zinc per gallon. 
When the water supply was changed, the constipation ceased. 
Many months after I again examined the water, which had been 
allowed to flow freely through the pipe, in the hope that it would 
speedily dissolve off the whole of the zinc; but it still contained 
too large a quantity to be considered safe for domestic use. Dr. 
Heaton, in the Chemical News (22nd Feb., 1884), gives an 
analysis of a water from near Llanelly, which is carried for half 
a mile through galvanised iron pipe. It was found to contain 
over 6 grains of carbonate of zinc to the gallon. Unfortunately 


BY J. BROWNLIE HENDERSON, F.I.C., F.C.S. 137 


the degree of temporary hardness is not stated, nor the reason 
why the Medical Officer sent it for analysis. Dr. Venables, in 
the Journal of the American Chemical Society, gives the analysis 
of a spring water, which, after passing through 200 yards of 
galvanised iron pipe, and after being in use a year, contained 
over 4 grains of zinc carbonate per gallon. The temporary 
hardness in this case was under 1°. He concludes that, ‘ when 
the dangerous nature of zinc as a poison is taken into consi- 
deration, the use of zinc-coated vessels in connection with water 
or any food liquid, should be avoided.’ ”’ 
* 


‘Zinc poisoning from the use of water which has been 
stored in galvanised iron receptacles is of comparatively rare 
occurrence. Obstinate constipation is, so far as experience 
extends, the one noticeable effect produced, and possibly zinc- 
contaminated water may be a more frequent cause of this condi- 
tion than has hitherto been suspected ; but Myelius states that 
the water of the parish well at Tutendorf, contains half a grain 
of zine per gallon, and has been used for about a century 
without any perceptible effect.”’ 


Hammarsten’s ‘* Physiological Chemistry,” 1900 ed., p. 211:— 
“Zinc . . . is easily taken up by the liver and retained 
for a long time,” and ibid., p. 404, “Zinc . . . . passer 
into the milk.” 
JOURNALS. 


The Analyst, since the first number in 1875, contains n: 
reference to deleterious effects of zinc in drinking water. Vol. 
XXII, p. 187, records the use of ZnSO, as cheese spice 
to prevent heaving and cracking in cheese-making (A. H. Allen), 
while A. Bodmer found 3°7 and 2°5 grains ZnSO, per 
lb. of cheese in two different samples. In Vol. 24, p. 8, dried 
apples are recorded as containing ‘031 per cent., ‘021 per cent., 
‘023 per cent., and -027 per cent, and dried pears ‘020 pe 
cent. and -026 per cent. of zinc. These are interesting as other 
possible sources of zinc poisoning. 

The Journal of the Society of Chemical Industry since the 
first number in 1882, gives the following information :— 

Vol. IL., p. 413, records acetic acid as containing zinc, 
derived from grey rubber tubing. 

Vol. IV., p. 408, records experiments to show that zinc is 
inimical to plant life. In some ‘‘ water culture’’ experiments 
1 part per million killed radish, 5 per million killed oats, barley, 

M 


188 DOMESTIC WATER SUPPLY OF BRISBANE, ETC. 


clover, vetch, and buck-wheat. Im soils, those rich in humus 
render the zinc insoluble so that it has little harmful effect, 
but in ordinary sandy soils, watering with water containing 20 
parts of zine per million after six weeks gradually killed off 
cabbages, peas, and even grasses. The action seems to arise 
through destruction of the chlorophyll, as zine has no deleterious 
effect on the development of vegetation in the dark or on plants 
containing no chlorophyll. 

Vol. IV., p. 461, gives a record by three other investigators, 
who confirm the above results. ’ 

Vol. V., p. 498, records the presence of zinc in dried apples. 
No proportions given. 

Vol. VI., p. 557.—Bunte says the use of galvanised iron 
pipes for househuld water did not give enough zine to be in 
any way harmful, but gives no figures. 

Vol. VIL., p. 689.—Max Muller found water from a copper 
roof to corrade zine quickly, while water from a slate roof 
did not. 

Vol. XI., p. 868.—A. H. Allen found ‘a large proportion 
of zine in peas, which he found free from copper.” 

Vol. XVIII., p. 102.—H. E. Davies, after a long investiga- 
tion established the following facts :— 

(1) All kinds of water attack zinc in presence of air, 

(2) Rain water appears to have the least action. 

(3) A moderate degree of hardness favours the action, 
and extreme hardness does not prevent it. 

(4) Coating the zine with deposit does not altogether 
stop the action. 

(5) When water containing zine is drunk, zine is found 
in all the viscera. 

The article also proves that the action of water on zinc is 
much accelerated by the presence of nitrates. 

The Chemical News contains very little information up 
to Vol. 49. On page 85 of this volume the following article appears 
by Dr. Heaton. This article is quoted in most of the text books 
when referring to zine in tank water :— 

‘‘ The water supplied to Cwmfelin, near Llanelly, is drawn 
from a spring at Penderry, and carried for about half a mile 
through a galvanised iron pipe. Mr. J. Raglan Thomas, the 
Medical Officer of Health for the district, detected zine in the 
water of this pipe, and sent me samples from the spring and 


BY J. BROWNLIE HENDERSON, F.I.C., F.C.S. 139 


from the pipe for further examination. I obtained the following 
results :— 
Grains per Gallon. 


—_— tT 
Spring. Pipe. 
Total solids .. % a4 be fe dice 10.8 18°9 
Chlorine te Sis $8 or oe Ne 1:47 1:45 
Ammonia .. ae a ae ee Sts none 0:008 
Nitrogen as nitrate . oe a 0:056 none 
Zine carbonate in seinen in eran a we none 6:41 


‘The solvent action upon zinc of water containing dis- 
solved oxygen and free carbonic acid is, as the above figures 
show, considerable. As far as I know it has not been observed 
before. 


‘‘T confirmed the analysis by a simple experiment. Dis- 
tilled water containing some fragments of pure zine was exposed 
for about half an hour toa stream of oxygen and carbonic 
anhydride. ‘The filtered liquid was found to contain much zine 
in solution, this zinc being readily precipitated as carbonate on 
boiling. 

“Tt will be seen that the Penderry water is very pure 
The reduction of the nitrate to ammonia by the action of the 
zinc is a noteworthy feature in the case.” 


On page 107 of same volume is a reprint of Dr. Stevenson’s 
well-known article which seems to give a resumé of what was 
known of the subject up to that date and which is here repro- 
duced :— 


‘The experiments of Boutigny, Schaueffele, and Langonné 
have long since shown us that zinc dissolves in potable waters 
at ordinary temperatures; that distilled water and rain 
water dissolve zinc more readily than hard waters, especially 
those that are rich in chalk. They have shown, however, that 
hard potable waters do not take up zine to an appreciable extent, 
for the zine speedily becomes coated with an insoluble layer of 
zine hydrate (hydrated oxide), or, more commonly, of hydro- 
carbonate (hydrated oxide and carbonate) ; but still a portion of 
the metal remains suspended, whilst a smaller portion, perhaps, 
passes into a state of true solution. Thus, all kinds of vessels 
in domestic use, whether made of zinc or ‘ galvanised,’ impart 
to waters kept in, or allowed to pass through them, a certain 
quantity of zinc. The quantity of zinc thus taken up may even 
be sufficient to render the water opalescent, and unfit for drink- 
ing purposes. 


140 DOMESTIC WATER SUPPLY OF BRISBANE, ETC. 


‘‘ Fonssagrives, taking up the question of the nocuity or 
innocuity of waters kept in zinc vessels, or in those which are 
galvanised (i.e., coated with zinc), investigated it by the data 
furnished by records of the public health, by the experience of 
naval hygiene, and by experiments on man and upon animals. 
He does not, however, adduce any experiments of hisown. A 
French Government Commission had previously, on what 
appeared to Fonssagrives insufficient grounds, decided that water 
kept in vessels of zinc is injurious to health. Boutigny had 
likewise attributed very grave effects to the use of waters thus 
stored, and even imagined that epilepsy might be produced by 
the ingestion of zinc oxide. Fonssagrives concluded, as the 
result of his investigations, that the insoluble preparations of 
zine produce no digestive disturbances except when taken in large 
doses, and that they do not accumulate in the economy. He 
admits that water in contact with metallic zine becomes coated 
with zinc compounds, but that these—zine hydrate, hydrocar- 
bonate, and ulmate—are almost insoluble. Rain water passing 
over the metal may, nevertheless, remove some zinc in solution, 
as zincate of ammonia. These compounds, he states, exist in 
waters in such small quantities that no injurious effects can, in 
his opinion, result from their use. He adds that the facts drawn 
from toxicology, naval hygiene, public hygiene, and therapeutics, 
all attest the innocuity of water that has rested upon zinc. In 
consequence, the use of zinc and galvanised iron cisterns, of zine 
pipes, and of galvanised iron pipes, for the conveyance of water, 
cannot be considered dangerous to health. 


‘Others, nevertheless, hold a different opinion. Pappen- 
heim states that, though the amount of zine present in such 
waters as have been spoken of, is not always sufficient to produce 
poisonous effects, since it is indubitable that they have frequently 
been employed for considerable lengths of time with impunity, 
yet the amount of metal taken up by large quantities of water 
may be sufficient to produce deleterious results. He states, 
moreover, that in France, spite of Fonssagrives’s assertions, the 
water tanks of ships have had to be re-galvanised and tinned, 
and that zine vessels have to be especially avoided. Dr, Parkes 
likewise states that Dr. Osborne, of Bitterne, has frequently 
observed injurious effects from the use of waters impregnated 
with zine. 

‘‘Of the fact that water does, under certain conditions, act 
energetically upon zinc and upon galvanised iron, I have had 


BY J. BROWNLIE HENDERSON, F.I.C., F.C.S. 141 


abundant evidence. Some months ago I was consulted by a 
gentleman relative to the water supply to his house. The exist- 
ing supply, from a well on the premises, furnished an excessively 
hard, chalky, and seleniferous water. It being desirable, for 
many reasons, to have a soft water, I advised that the rain water 
from the extensive slate-covered premises should be filtered and 
stored for use, as the house was remote from possible sources of 
contamination of the rain water. Asa matter of precaution, I 
recommended the use of iron pipes for conveying the water, and 
that, after filtration through charcoal, sand, and gravel, the 
water should be stored in a tank lined with asphalt. Against 
my knowledge, galvanised iron pipes were used instead of those 
of iron only. The consequence of this has been that the water 
passing from the reservoir through the galvanised iron pipes 
has for many weeks been turbid and milky in appearance. It 
contains a notable quantity of zinc in suspension, and some in 
solution. I may remark that zine in solution in potable waters 
is best detected by the addition of potassic ferrocyanide to the 
clear water after acidulation with hydrochloric acid, when a 
whitish cloud will immediately form if zinc be present. Of 
course this reaction must be confirmed by other and well-known 
tests. I know of no test for zinc which is so delicate as this. 


“What might be the effect of drinking such water as I 
have described I cannot say, for no one would touch it if other 
water were to be obtained. Probably, its continued use might 
be productive of injurious effects. 


*‘Hngineers should bear in mind this effect of rain water 
upon zine and upon the so-called galvanised iron.”’ 


On page 115 of same volume Dr. P. F. Frankland 
terminates a note on the subject by declaring that the storage of 
Yain water in galvanised iron tanks is probably attended with 
some risk. 

In Vol. 51 of the Chemical News, page 18, the full text of 
Dr. Venable’s article, quoted above by Thresh, appears. 

I examined the Lancet, The Practitioner, and the British 
Medical Journal so far as I could get them back to 1890, but 
‘with the following exception found nothing of importance. In 
the British Medical Journal of 7th September, 1901, page 615, 
is an article by Dr. Gimlette on an epidemic of zine poisoning 
in the tropics. The following is an extract from the article :— 

‘The poisonous effects of various salts of zine have been 
demonstrated from time to time. In England they have been 


142 DOMESTIC WATER SUPPLY OF BRISBANE, ETC. 


reported from brass foundries as due to the oxide, and have been 
traced to the sulphate in the adulteration of cheese, apparently 
to the oxide in injurious ice creams, to the chloride in cheap 
wearing apparel, as well as to the carbonate in drinking water 
supplied by means of galvanised iron pipes. Instances of the 
latter kind of poisoning in the tropics are perhaps not so widely 
known as at home. In 1900 part of an Indian regiment, the 
Malay States Guides, stationed at Pahang, suffered from zine 
poisoning to a very marked degree. 


“ The 56 men who formed the detachment were transferred 
from the neighbouring State of Perdk in March, 1900. I took 
over medical charge of this half-company in September, 1900, 
and found that the health of the men had been very bad during 
the previous six tmonths. Gastro-intestinal complaints were so 
frequent and serious as to almost verge on an epidemic. Route 
marching had been curtailed, early bathing prohibited, and it 
had been supposed in July that a form of dysentery was endemic 
in the barracks. Inquiry showed that the half company was 
composed partly of Sikh soldiers and partly of Pathans, living 
in parallel and identical barracks on an isolated hill, a short 
distance from the town of Kuala Lipis and about 48 feet above 
it. The two buildings were erected in 1898 on an artificially- 
levelled flat, the surface of which was of stiff clay streaked with 
laterite. Hach barrack was 90 feet in length by 40 feet wide, 
roofed in 1898 with sheets of 22 B.W.G. corrugated iron. 


‘‘ In 1900, for the convenience of water supply, a galvanised 
iron tank (capacity 400 gallons) had been supplied to each 
building, one being for the use of the 31 Sikhs, the other for 
the 25 Pathans who made up the strength of the half-company. 
Rain water was collected for the first time in January, 1900, 
from the roofs by means of zine gutters and down spouts leading 
into the tanks. No rain water separators or other appliances 
were in use with a view of discharging the first water collected. 
The water supply had previously been carried from a large river 
at the foot of the hill. 


‘‘The galvanised iron roofs had not been covered with a 
thatch, and were not painted. The tanks only had been painted 
green outside and washed with cement inside. There is but 
little vegetation in immediate proximity to the barrack square, 
but the jungle soil in the vicinity of the barracks is shaded and 
thickly covered with vegetable and organic matter in an active 


BY J. BROWNLIE HENDERSON, F.I.C., F.G.S. 1438 


state of growth and decay owing to the peculiarly hot and moist 
character of the climate. 

‘“‘In October I suspected that the cause acting so injuriously 
on the health of the Guides was due to the irritant action of 
some metallic poison, and surmised that it was some salt of 
zine in combination with an organic acid or acids. By a rough 
application of the usual chemical tests I found in December 
that the water from each tank, as well as that caught directly 
from the roof, contained the metal zinc in poisonous quantities, 
and my deductions were subsequently confirmed by special 
analysis. 

“Mr. P. J. Burgess, M.A., Government Analyst, Straits 
Settlements, whose report on this water is attached, reports that 
the water taken directly from the roof is organically a dirty 
water and unfit for domestic purposes, while water taken from 
the tanks is as far as organic impurities go, unfit for drinking. 
And that the tank water held zine in solution as the acid car- 
Donate, 4:82 parts per million (:34 grains per gallon) in quantity 
as compared to that taken directly from the roof which held 
11:15 parts per million in solution. 

“Tt is thus proved that zinc existed in the water in 
sufficient amount to cause poisoning, and the medical history of 
the health of the detachment will prove that to this alone was 
their illness due. Similar detachments from the Malay States 
Guides who occupied these barracks used water from other 
sources. They were under my care in 1898 and 1899. The 
numbers under treatment for gastro-intestinal complaints were 
not very large during these two years for this class of native. 

‘* The present detachment used the zinc-contaminated water 
from their first arrival in March, 1900, until the end of the year, 
when its use was forbidden and prevented. After its use was 
stopped, the number of patients steadily decreased. There have 
been no new cases of this kind, and the general health has much 
improved. 

“In 1900, colic, diarrhcea, and a spurious form of dysentery 
were persistently complained of. The health had never been 
affected in this way before, as the following records of attendance 
for this class of case, taken before, during, and after using this 
water supply will prove : 

“From March to October, 1898, 30 men were under treat- 
ment for this class of case; in 1899, for the same months, 58 
patients. In 1900, during the same period, 219 men, and, at 


144 DOMESTIC WATER SUPPLY OF BRISBANE, ETC. 


at the close of the year, it was found that 43 different individuals 
out of the 56 had been on the sick list on account of gastro- 
intestinal disorders. Nine men and 1 woman had been 
transferred on medical certificate. One patient was recom- 
mended for four months’ sick leave to India; 5 others, who had 
constantly been on the sick list, took all the leave which was 
due to them. Seven voluntarily left the service on the termina- 
tion of their agreements on account of ill-health, and one of 
them subsequently died in Selangor. Another died at Kuala 
Lipis. The spirit of the remaining 81 men of the original 
Perak detachment was broken, and the general loss of tone was 
very noticeable. 


Special points of interest in the clinical histories are : 

‘‘1. The fact that gastric symptoms predominated over 
nervous symptoms. It is difficult to offer any satisfactory 
reason as to why this should have occurred, except that it is a 
common experience in the East that Sikhs suffer greatly from 
irritative dyspepsia even under ordinary circumstances, and are 
not often attacked with neuritis. As far as my experience in 
Pahang goes, they have been notably exempt from the prevalent 
form of peripheral neuritis which is very commonly met with in 
beri-beri. 


“2. The fact that all the Sikh patients had had their 
diets prepared at the barracks, and had their drinking water 
supplied from the contaminated tank all the time they had 
been in the wards. This was on account of their religious 
custom, which forbids them to use food prepared by others than 
their own nationality, or to drink water unless it has been 
carried by a Sikh. The Pathans, on the other hand, being 
Mussulmans, were supplied with the ward diets and water by the 
hospital cook, who is a Mohammedan. ‘They were also accus- 
tomed to eat and drink with their Mahommedan friends in the 
town, but the Sikh soldiers had few opportunities of feeding 
outside barracks. The hospital returns show that ihe Sikh 
soldiers suffer in a proportion of almost 2 to 1 as compared to 
the Pathans. 


‘3. The slow and deadly action of zine poisoning by 
administration in small but continuous doses was well exempli- 
fied. In some cases it seems to suggest the possibility of zine 
being an accumulative poison. Emaciation was, generally 
speaking, an evident symptom, and was so marked in the case of 


BY J. BROWNLIE HENDERSON, F.I.C., F.C.8. 145 


V. S. as to suggest malignant disease of the stomach at the time 
of his death. 


‘‘ With regard to the chemical analysis of the water, it is 
necessary to say that the samples A and B, mentioned in the 
analyst’s report, were taken from the Pathan’s tank. It was 
not possible at the time, owing to a short drought, to send Mr- 
Burgess samples from the Sikhs’ tank. An excess of zinc was 
found in this water by me as compared to the other. For the 
same reason it took some days to collect the sample C, which 
was taken directly from the roof. The surfaces of the corru- 
gated iron were not flushed with rain as is usually the case. 
This, no doubt, accounts for the large amount of organic matter 
which was found in this particular sample, and may explain the 
excess of zinc in it through non-dilution of the water. The 
roofs at Kuala Lipis are covered with patches of oxide of zine. 


“The amount of carbonate in solution in the tank water 
which caused so much sickness at Kuala Lipis, is comparatively 
small in quantity. It is less than one-fifteenth of that found in 
the contaminated water supplied to Cwmfelin, near Llanelly, a 
few years ago. 

‘Tt is interesting to note in connection with the latter 
instance, which is reported in the Lancet of July 29th, 1893, 
that the Pahang water was also essentially a soft water. The 
occurrence of this rather rare instance of poisoning suggests the 
advisability of a special inquiry with regard to a possible conta- 
mination of water in the towns of Australia and South Africa 
where galvanised iron roofs and tanks are used for the purpose 
of collecting and storing rain water; and although soil and 
circumstances undoubtedly play a chief part in the causation of 
typhoid fever in these countries, it is not unreasonable to suppose 
that zine poisoning might be a factor in the causation of some 
of the gastro-intestinal symptoms. It appears that only after 
prolonged boiling and subsequent filtration water containing the 
acid carbonate of zinc might be harmless. It must be borne in 
mind, however, that the climates are essentially different, and 
perhaps in this may be found the determining cause of the 
Pahang epidemic. The mean annual temperature at Kuala 
Lipis in 1900 was 82°7° F., the minimum temperature 71° F., 
the rainfall 96:69 inches, with an average number of thirteen 
rainy days per month.” 

These then are the facts, so far as I have been able to 
ascertain them, with regard to what is known of the presence of 


146 DOMESTIC WATER SUPPLY OF BRISBANE, ETC. 


zine in drinking water. The most striking of all these extracts 
is the poisoning case in the Straits Settlements. The poisoning 
there was without doubt caused by the presence of only one-third 
of a grain of zinc per gallon in the drinking water. In Brisbane we 
have on the average fully three times this amount. If elsewhere 
zine, present in less quantity than we have here, causes severe 
and even fatal poisoning, may it not be causing serious harm in 
Brisbane? I realise that this is in many ways a serious question 
to raise, but it would certainly be a most extraordinary circum- 
stance if the presence of zine in drinking water, which hag 
proved so harmful elsewhere, should be perfectly harmless in 
Queensland. 


SETTLING IN QUEENSLAND AND THE REASONS 
FOR DOING SO—WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE 
TO DROUGHTS. 


By the Hon. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 


(Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 25th Oct., 1902.) 


Wuen in September, 1857, I left New England and the many 
friends I had made there, my thoughts often turned to the sunny 
North, where so many New Englanders, young and old, had 
already located themselves. The descriptions of life in what 
soon afterwards became Queensland were upon the whole 
favourable, and some of my former companions urged me to 
follow their example and escape from the snows and frosts of 
the South to the warm tropical districts of the North, where 
beautiful flowering plants grew in abundance in forest and 
scrub; where bananas, pineapples, and many other luscious 
fruits from oversea were as plentiful as peaches about Sydney ; 
and where splendid pasturage for sheep and cattle insured the 
early success of those who took up country and settled down to 
steady work. Upon the whole the picture was beguiling; but 
already I had learnt a little of the optimism which paints things 
‘in such lovely colours; and I knew something from the illus- 
trations with which I was acquainted of the failure of hopes 
that had once looked so promising. I had other thoughts 
running in my mind, too, and would decide nothing hurrriedly. 
I went to Sydney, therefore, riding the first day of my journey 
through patches of unmelted snow, and picking my way through 
the numerous fallen branches which a recent storm had brought 
to the ground ; retracing my steps along the Port Stevens track 
by which [ had first made my way to New England ; scrambling 
down the steeps and roughnesses of Hungry Hill; following the 
river valleys and crossing many pebbly river-beds ; putting up 


148 SETTLING IN QUEENSLAND, ETC. 


at the unpretensious houses of accommodation and living on 
the simple fare they provided, and at night sleeping as only the 
young can sleep. 


For some time I remained in Sydney, making inquiries and 
thinking thoughts which seemed to lead to nothing definite 
until, sauntering along George Street one morning, I met an old 
schoolmate who told me he was going to the Clarence River for 
some cattle which he had undertaken to drive across to Victoria. 
Would I join my lot with his? I must settle the matter at 
once, as he had to give an answer within half-an-hour to another 
young fellow who wanted to go with him. Half-a-minute was 
enough for me. I heard the terms, and there and then agreed 
to go. SoI was to see the Clarence River country, of which I 
had heard a great deal, and somethiug of all the districts lying 
bet ween it and the golden city of Melbourne. I had heard of 
the droughts which had prevailed in the earlier days. 
I had read of the devastation caused by want of rain, even in the 
neigh bourhood of Sydney, and I was not quite uninformed as to 
the terribly dry state which some explorers had gained experience 
of in their travels into the interior. Perhaps I should gain some 
personal experience in this direction, but in any case what 
knowledge I might pick up of the southern districts would help 
me to decide later on about those which lay near or in the 
tropics. 


In due course I made my way by steamer to Grafton, on 
the Clarence River. During the weeks I remained there I made 
the acquaintance of a number of good fellows who were trying 
to hit upon the fortune which they had been promising them- 
selves when they went there; and I renewed my friendship 
with some who I had known before; amongst the latter I 
specially mention the name of Thomas Hawkins Smith, who 
died last July from pneumonia ; a good man and true was “Tom” 
Smith,,.and ever ready to do a kindly act. We got away with 
the cattle in what is sometimes spoken of as ‘‘ the fall”’ of the 
year. At Tabulam station, then owned by Mrs. Chauvel, we 
came in for a ‘fall’? of rain which lasted for several days— 
indeed until we all became bluemouldy. Going through the big 
New England district we had biting frosts and plenty of them, 
but happily no snow. Through Liverpool Plains we experienced 
dry weather and a general shortness of water. Before we 
reached Coolah we became acquainted with anthrax, commonly 
called ‘‘ Cumberland”’ disease, after the county of Cumberland, 


BY THE HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 149 


where it was wont to kill many cattle and sheep as they were 
being taken to the Sydney market. When I took sheep through 
the Coolah country in 1854 it killed some of them also. By 
the time we reached Dubbo, on the Macquarie, we were well 
into a drought, and until we drew near the Lachlan River at 
Cummin’s Crossing we had more and more drought. Cattle 
and horses had been dying by thousands, and the water we were 
compelled to drink told its own never-to-be-forgotten tale of 
thirst and starvation. Before we reached the Lachlan River the 
rain came. It filled the water channels and holes; as for the 
remains of the dead—let us hope they were drifted to some spot 
where there was no water to pollute! We had several days of 
rain, and it made things as damp and uncomfortable as usual. 
But it brought up the grass and herbage, and the wide plains of 
the Lachlan became emerald ; trefoil sprang up abundantly, and 
the cattle ate it greedily, with hoven as the result; and on the 
lower flats beside the river there grew an interminable field of 
wild oats which were full of seed before we reached Walgiers. 
I would have liked to forget in this land of abundant pastures 
the drought we had gone through, but the remembrance of the 
cattle dying of starvation, the flash of the tomahawk with 
which I ended the agony of scores of starving animals that 
could not rise and were being picked cruelly to pieces by hawks 
and crows—these things would not allow one to forget. Besides, 
the grass was all green; not a single dry blade could be found. 
It had all grown after the rain, before. which there was nothing 
but dry, bare, dusty soil. How could one forget ? 


As we slowly shaped our course along the lazy Lachlan— 
there were no fences in those days, and what cattle there were on 
the runs did not need much of the almost too abundant green 
pasture —I often turned my thoughts northwards, where it was 
all green and beautiful all the year round, just as we saw it here 
now—at least so I had been told. There was a suggestiveness 
about this country, too, which it was not easy to overlook. The 
river oaks had all been cut down for the horses of travellers, and 
the bleaching bones told a silent tale of starvation, ending at 
last in—oh! such a cruel death! These things the green grass 
could not hide, nor could the murky water of the river cover all 
the carcasses which lined its banks. Then I asked some of the 
residents about the road across to the Darling River, and they 
told me how one might travel through now, but soon the rain 
water which had filled up the small hollows would have disap- 


150 SETTLING IN QUEENSLAND, ETC. 


peared; then one must keep in touch with the larger water 
channels. Lake Walgiers was a small iniand sea now, so were 
others of the depressions hereabouts. It was not necessary to 
ask what happened to them in time of drought; it was enough 
to know that at one time Lake George, near Goulburn, had been 
a grazing ground for the squatters’ flocks. Besides, who that 
had read anything of Captain Sturt’s travels and those of many 
other explorers need ask if the country, over which we travelled 
in abundance, had ever before been drought-stricken? At the 
Walgiers Crossing the river was a banker, and we had to force 
cattle and horses to swim to the other side. We crossed during 
the night the wide plain which intervenes between Walgiers on 
the Lachlan and the Murrumbidgee, which we struck at Hay, 
Captain Sturt had gone down the river in his boat in 1830; the 
country on either side, right away down to Lake Alexandrina, 
was until then unknown. It was beautiful now with its luxuri- 
ant pastures, its small and its giant salt bushes; and in spite of 
dry seasons men prospered, for they had no paddocks and not 
too many stock. Across the sixty-mile plain, past the Black 
Swamp—haunted, so ’twas said, by a headless human skeleton 
riding a skeleton horse with hobbles on his feet—through more 
dry plains and deceptive mirage, until we reached the backwater 
from the flooded Edward River; then past Deniliquin and 
along the road, where the first telegraph line, a private venture, 
was being constructe ketween it and Moama, Here there was 
a pontoon bridge across the Murray, but the cattle and horses 
we had to force, as w2 had done at the Murrumbidgee and 
Edward, to swim the swift stream fed by the melting snow 
from the Snowy Mountains. Then we travelled along the 
Campaspie not knowing whither, for we were trying to hang on 
until we had letters to say whether or not the cattle were sold 
and what we must do with them. Atlast the news was received 
and we had to turn back to the Murray, cross it once more and 
hand over our charge to she purchaser at a station not far from 
Swan Hill. All along this part of the country, from the Billa- 
bong in fact, and for the rest of our journey, the pastoralists and 
their men hunted ‘‘ the overlanders’”’ and their stock and made 
their lives a burden to them. So farasI could form an opinion, 
the chances open for a young fellow who wanted to engage in 
pastoral pursuits were not tempting in these districts to one 
whose capital was limited. A friend and I drove to Melbourne in 
the light spring cart we had used on the overland route. During 


BY THE HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 151 


the following year I made another trip with cattle to Deniliquin, 
varying the route in places and becoming more extensively 
acquainted with the nature of the country ; but the only effect of 
these journeys was to turn my thoughts more definitely towards 
the undeveloped north. While I was in Melbourne, after my 
second overland trip, I was afforded a convenient opportunity to 
visit the westernmost country of New South Wales then under 
occupation, and without any unnecessary delay I made a start 
from Sydney taking a well-tried man with me. I had selected 
three good horses, one of which carried our pack, and we 
travelled by the usual road through Bathurst, Orange, Molong, 
Wellington, and Dubbo. From Bathurst our course was 
generaliy down the valley of the Macquarie. As a matter 
of fact we followed approximately the track of Captain 
Sturt when in 1829 he travelled down the Macquarie during 
a terrible drought which had commenced on the coast in 
1826, hoping to solve the mystery connected with the marshes 
which in 1817 and 1818 had blocked Oxley’s further progress. 
After passing Mount Harris and Mount Foster we crossed onto 
Duck Creek, and afterwards onto Mara Creek, and this we 
followed down to the Barwon River, as it is there called. There 
is some very fine cattle country on the Lower Macquairie, but 
this was already occupied. Until we reached the Barwon we 
had travelled through dry country, water being confined for the 
most part to the Macquairie River and the larger creeks. The 
Barwon was lined on either bank by large blue-gums; the 
channel was wide and deep, and numbers of waterfowl floated 
lazily on the splendid reaches of water. It was only close 
beside the river, however, that grass was plentiful, and even it 
was very dry in most places. Sturt, after vainly trying to follow 
the Macquairie through the marshes which were then almost 
dry, turned to the left and crossed the dry bed of the Bogan 
without recognising it as a river of importance. He passed 
under Oxley’s Tableland, Durban’s Group being distant only a 
few miles, and named the river he discovered the Darling. His 
disappointment can be understood when he found the water was 
too salt for men or his animals to drink. . The saltness they 
discovered arose from brine springs in the river itself. When 
in 1859-60 I visited the country the water was fresh and good, 
but its dry character was well-known, and the frontages to the 
river had not in all cases been stocked. For several years, 
however, Tyson and other pastoral magnates, who knew their 


152 SETTLING IN QUEENSLAND, ETC. 


way about much better than some other people, had made it a 
practice in good seasons to travel stock which they had bought 
further north down the river, and many of these they sold as 
fats when they arrived at Swanhill. At Breewarrina, sometimes 
called ‘* The Fisheries,’ not far above the Bogan junction, a 
station which belonged to Uapp and Loder, I was informed that 
there were 600 head of cattle when a drought desolated the 
country. These all disappeared, and no trace of them could be 
found until some years afterwards a few of them with their 
unbranded progeny were reported to have been found on some 
swampy country far away to the westward. I followed the 
river downwards on both sides for many miles below the junction 
of the Warrego. The season was not what one might call a 
drought, but the weather was dry, grass except along the 
frontages was scarce, and the showers that occasionally fell 
dried up at once. I should not have had the temerity to settle 
in a district which had so droaghty a reputation, but when to 
this disadvantage were added the fearful heat, the dust-storms, 
the millions of little tormenting flies which were always in 
evidence, the blight, and quite a number of other hateful 
cireumstances, I could see no inducement to remain there longer 
than was absolutely necessary. So I returned to Sydney and 
commenced my preparations for a northward flitting. This did 
not occupy much time, and once more I took the Port Stevens 
road for New England, for I still had an interest in Waterloo 
and Tiara, and my intention was to secure sheep country, if 
possible, and stock it up from those stations. 


On New England I purchased a number of horses, and 
with one assistant started for the new Northern colony about 
August, 1860. My latest recollection of the high country on 
that occasion was a smart fall of rain and sleet the night before 
we crossed the Queensland border at Ballandean. Up to this 
time my horses had been behaving admirably, but after passing 
Warwick we found a scarcity of feed, for the spring had not 
fairly set in, and my first impression of the Darling Downs was 
less favourable than I had anticipated. The horses, too, 
experienced some disappointment, and the green spots which we 
passed in our travels remained fresh even in their dreams and 
induced them to return at night by the road we had travelled by 
day. After a day’s rest in a snug bend in Glengalen Creek we 
pushed onwards past Eton Vale and Drayton to Toowoomba, 
which was then commonly spoken of as the Green Swamp. 


BY THE HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 158 


Lying on a sofa in the inn at Drayton was a Mr. Perston, who 
I had known a few months before as the managing partner at 
Tooralle on the Darling River. Then the poor fellow was 
suffering from lung disease; now he was resting for a brief 
space at Drayton, sent there by his medical adviser in the hope 
that the fresh dry air would effect an improvement. A few 
weeks later he rested from his labours for ever ! 


At this time I thought seriously of trying for country on 
the Maranoa, and from Toowoomba I turned westwards, passing 
Gowrie, then owned by Mr. Isaac; Jondaryan, which was under 
the managementof Mr. J. C. White ; and Dalby, thena very primi- 
tive township. Information obtained ‘by the wayside”’ dis- 
pelled the idea that I should find the class of country I wanted 
on the Maranoa, and at Condamine township I again turned 
northward, passing a station owned by Mr. John Ferrett and 
managed by Mr. Lethbridge. Before I reached Juandah, where 
resided Mr. Golden, the manager for the Brothers Royds, patches 
of green feed here and there gave hope of a general improve- 
ment in the state of the country, and the night after we 
passed Juandah rain set in heavily and continued for some 
days. The Juandah Station, by the way, was originally held 
by Herbert Salway, of St. Leonards on New England, and 
Percy Stephen, a nephew of the late Sir Alfred Stephen. 
Until the rain had ceased I did not shift camp, and during that 
little holiday heard many details of the Hornet Bank massacre 
and the retributive massacres which followed. Mr. Royd’s name 
ought to be recorded amongst the chief of those who did their 
utmost to protect blacks who had not participated in this 
slaughter. By the time the rain ceased the country had become 
terribly boggy ; but Mr. Golden enlightened me somewhat when 
I referred to this by explaining the difference between it and the 
country on the Dawson. “ Here,’’ he said, ‘‘ a horse will sink 
to his hocks ; there he will sink below his hocks!” I followed 
the road towards Taroom as far as Hawkwood, a station owned 
by Mr. Hook, who also had property near Dungog in New South 
Wales. I am told the brigalow has spread very largely on 
Juandah and Hawkwood since then. At that time it was com- 
paratively open and much of the scenery was very beautiful, 
numbers of bottle trees of great size standing out on the open 
patches or growing along the edge of the brigalow. From 
Hawkwood I turned in again towards the coast, passed Mr. 
Long’s Bungaban station, and then crossed the range on to 

N 


154 SETTLING IN QUEENSLAND, ETC. 


Burnett waters. The next station we passed was Mr. Pigott’s 
Auburn, but I need not here name the stations and occupants 
between this point and Gayndah. What impressed me more, I 
think, than anything else was the fact that, for the present at 
any rate, 1 was right away from the terribly dry country of 
which I had seen so much during the last two years. We had 
heavy rain somewhere before we reached Gayndah, and the 
granity country became about as boggy as rain could make it. 
The roadway had been hardened by continual traffic, but when- 
ever a horse took a step away from the beaten track down he 
went to his knees in the yielding soil, and gladly enough he 
made the solid road again. I remember that one night, after a 
soaking day’s rain, I sat in the tent before the fire trying to dry 
my blankets and clothing. It was an all-night business, but I 
made it a practice never to lie down for the night in wet clothes, 
for this I had always been taught would certainly develop 
rheumatism, or lumbago, or sciatica. My man slept in his wet 
clothes as comfortably as though he occupied a feather bed, and 
I honestly believe that fellow has never had a rheumatic twinge; 
I, notwithstanding all my efforts to stave off these things, have 
had all of them! The Boyne River—The Boyne it was called by 
explorers who, when they came upon it, thought it was the 
river near Gladstene, so named years before by Oxley, 
and it is still The Boyne, the river properly so called 
being allowed a secondary position as Ozley’s Boyne. 
The Boyne River, which is merely a tributary of the 
Burnett and flows into it from the south, was running 
pretty high when we came to it, but we crossed without 
difficulty. The Burnett was more self-assertive, and not 
caring to run risks that were unnecessary, from Gayndah, where 
I had intended to cross, I followed the Maryborough road, 
crossed Baramba Creek, with its almost upright basaltic columns, 
passed Wetherton, then owned by the Moretons, and found old 
friends in Mr. and Mrs. Walsh at Degilbo. While here I deter- 
mined to further reduce the number of my horses, of which I 
had sold a few along the road; so I took them to Maryborough 
and got rid of them there by auction sale. When I started 
Northward again, Mr. Arthur Brown, of Gin Gin, was my com- 
panion, and as the Burnett was still high, we made for Walla 
where was a boat in which we crossed. Our horses we had to 
swim one by one behind the boat, for the stream was swift and 
the landing place narrow. Old John Barker and his wife were 


BY THE HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 155 


hospitable, as good bush people always were. Two things I took 
particular note of here. Mr. Barker had the best collection of 
books I had yet seen at any Queensland station. He had also a 
splendid lot of orange trees, which thrived greatly in the drift 
soil on the river bank. A great deal of the lower Burnett 
country is of volcanic origin, basaltic columnar formation showing 
freely in Baramba Creek and in the river bed in front of Walla 
house. Indeed, the country around Bundaberg, as we now 
know, is largely of volcanic formation; and at Ban Ban, near 
Gayndah, Mr. Nugent Wade Broun, a few years ago discovered 
two old craters, which are now partly filled with fresh water, on 
the summit of a high mountain. 


Twelve miles north of Walla was the Gin Gin station, then 
owned by the brothers Brown, and with them I stayed a couple 
of days. Frank Jardine was there waiting for his father, then 
Land Commissioner ai Rockhampton, and with him young 
Salmon, who afterwards formed a home in South America. 
Old Mr. Jardine was prevented by illness from leaving 
home, so we three young fellows rode on together and 
stopped the next night at Kolongo. My old friend Holt was 
absent, but in charge of the station was a young fellow whose 
self-importance was enough to suggest that he owned Kolongo 
and several other stations as well. He passed out of view many 
years ago. He accompanied us on the following day, and at 
luncheon time I made the acquaintance of my friends, Mr. and 
Mrs. F. A. Blackman, who now live at ‘ Boreela,’’ near the 
Hamilton. I sat at their table and eat salt with them, and we 
have been friends ever since. That evening we found a welcome 
at Miriam Vale, where lived Edwin Blomfield, the managing 
partner, as good a neighbour as anyone could wish to have. At 
this time I was making for Barmundoo, a station then owned by 
the Browns of Gin Gin. The elder Brown, who was commonly 
known as ‘‘ the British Lion”’ or the ‘ Britisher,” was staying 
there at the time, and I wanted first to visit him and then to go on 
to the Callide, where my old friend and partner, Morton, 
reigned supreme. From Miriam Vale we took a bush track 
through to Iveragh and Riverstone, stations owned by Captain 
O’Connell — he then was, afterwards Sir Maurice O’Connell. 
To the right of the road after we passed Carlo’s lagoon were 
beautiful masses of golden flowers beside some patches of vine 
serub. Such profusion ané such colour I could not pass without 
closer examination. My companions knew nothing about it, 


156 SETTLING IN QUEENSLAND, ETC. 


but Carlo O’Connell, at Iveragh, was the botanist of the district, 
and knew the names of all the flowers in the bush. He could 
tell me all about it, they felt sure; but Carlo was no more of 
a botanist than some I could name who profess to be, and he 
was not one of those who make false pretences. He had never 
known the tree to flower before, he said, and could not tell me 
anything about it. I afterwards found it was Barklya syringifolia, 
and it seldom missed flowering in succeeding years. ‘That 
night we slept at Riverstone, where Pocklington was in charge. 
At one time he was employed by the Australian Agricultural 
Company, and on two or three occasions, when I lived on New 
England, he paid us a passing visit at Waterloo. Here I parted 
with my companions, and next day I had lunch with ‘ The 
Britisher ” at Barmundoo. 


By this time I had come to the conclusion that if I was 
going to bring sheep to Queensland I must look for country 
further back from the coast, and by going further west it seemed 
probable that I should strike country which was subject to such 
droughts as they had in the western part of New South Wales. 
Since I had left Juandah and Hawkwood I had seen no country 
on which I would have cared to put sheep, There was plenty 
of grass everywhere after the rain, but it was unlike any grass 
on which I had known sheep to thrive. Most of the runs had 
been stocked with sheep, but at this time the owners were 
realising the necessity for substituting cattle. Kven where I 
was then, it seemed certain that the seasons were sometimes 
very dry indeed, and a place in Fuller’s Creek was pointed out 
to me where there was a splendid waterhole and plenty of water in 
the creek above it to its very head. From this point upwards, 
at the time when I was droving cattle to Victoria in 1858 and 
leaving numbers of dead ones by the roadside, this hole was 
dry, and there was not a drop of water in any part of that 
creek above the crossing at Barmundoo. The fact was un- 
pleasently suggestive, but there were reasonable grounds for 
believing that when the country had been stocked for two or 
three years it might improve by reason of the surface soil 
hardening. After a time I went on to the Callide where, and at 
the Prairie adjoining it, there was a patch of very pretty 
country, and I offered to inspect the Kroombit, which I had 
heard was for sale. John Landsborough, to whom it belonged, 
changed his mind about selling when he met a possible pur- 
chaser. After this I quite determined to give up the search for 


BY THE HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 157 


sheep country, and entered into negotiations for the purchase of 
various properties without result. At last I bought the Rodd’s 
Bay run, unstocked and unimproved, from Mr. Walsh, of 
Degilbo, and sold my interest in the New England stations. 


During the years I lived in the Port Curtis district I made 
myself acquainted with a great deal of the surrounding country, 
and, notwithstanding many drawbacks, I never regretted my 
determination to settle near the coast. The work connected 
with the formation of a new station is more or less expen- 
sive and troublesome, but it helps to enlarge the interest 
in life and breaks a monotony that sometimes becomes too 
dull. I soon learnt, however, that close proximity to the 
sea—the beach formed one boundary of my run—affords 
no protection against drought. On many occasions in more 
than ordinarily dry summers I have watched the heavy clouds 
rolling across the sky without letting any of their moisture fall 
until they hung over the ever restless sea. There the rain would 
come down in torrents, and on the land the dust would rise with 
every breeze. Still, we managed to pull along without any 
excessive loss; the surface of the soil had so far hardened that 
the water, when it rained, more readily flowed into the water- 
courses and filled up the creeks, upon which we relied for a 
constant supply. About 1867 an experience which was as bad 
as a drought overtook us. All the pastoralists were, of course, 
aware that pleuro-pneumonia was drawing ever nearer. I had 
sent for the newest publication on diseases in cattle, and when 
it arrived I turned anxiously to the treatment of this fell 
disease. Unfortunately, Professor Simonds had made his report 
upon the treatment of pleuro-pneumonia by inoculation, and 
here I found his words quoted in condemnation of the practice. 
Such an authority could not be treated with disrespect and I left 
it to Providence to see us through our trouble. We had been 
experiencing an exceptionally dry spell and were drawing water 
for domestic purposes from a hole about a mile from the station, 
when one day Page Kennedy made his appearance with a large 
mob of store cattle which he had brought from the Lower 
Burnett. He camped that night by the station and next morning 
his cattle trampled up tone mud in our only clean waterhole ; 
it mattered little though for rain set in and washed every water- 
course from end to end. It also flooded the Boyne River, and 
Kennedy and his cattle were blocked for several days. Very 
soon afterwards the cattle on the runs began to sicken ;: the fat 


158 SETTLING IN QUEENSLAND, ETC. 


' bullocks which were expected to give a return that would keep 
bank accounts in an easy condition were the readiest to drop off ; 
breeding cows, heifers, calves, steers, and bulls, all were affected, 
and, without having made any sales in two years time, my herd 
was reduced in number by one-third; some of my neighbours 
lost half. It was a hard time, but most of us recovered our 
position in a few years through the increase of prices that took 
place after the depletion of the herds. 


In the last month of 1875, having taken a partner in the 
station, I left him in charge and moved off to Sydney. He was 
an excellent young man, but after a time his health became im- 
paired ; how much so I did not know until the beginning of 
1883. Unfortunately for myself, I bought him out, but I had 
no suspicion of a big drought having begun. ‘The recollection 
of that time is by no means agreeable. All of us kad very heavy 
losses—in some cases quite 50 per cent.—and there were very 
few, I think, who would have believed that a greater evil in the 
form of drought could overtake them. The drought which has 
been devastating the country for so long, is probably worse than 
that of 1883-4-5. Undoubtedly it has been more universal ; but 
in a new country the severity of droughts cannot be satisfactorily 
compared. In 1858, when the losses were so heavy in a large 
part of what is now called Riverina, they occurred for the most 
part amongst travelling exttle. The runs were unfenced and the 
local cattle found abundant pasture in the back county, coming 
to the frontages to water about every second day. Many an 
evening I watched them coming in from across the plains to 
drink from the Lachlan. In long strings they would approach, 
as it were, from behind the horizon—a game of follow my leader. 
As they drew near the stream they would run and caper 
about like so many calves. Then, when their thirst was 
assuaged, and they had had a good corroboree, they would 
march back in line as they had come; they needed no grass, 
and they were strong and in good condition, proving 
the sufficiency of the feed in the waterless back country. 
Fencing has changed all that; the rents have been raised, 
the number of stock largely increased, and the losses are 
very much more heavy. It is impossible to compare the severity 
of droughts where the conditions have been so materially 
altered. Soin Queensland in the districts with which I am 
best acquainted it is impossible to compare the 1858 drought 
with that which commenced in 18838, and the latter with that 


BY THE HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 159 


which continues to devastate so large a part of this State. 
During the later period the finding of artesian water in so many 
wells is a new and disturbing factor, so far as comparisons with 
the past are concerned. Without, however, going into figures 
relating to rainfall, which are in themselves imperfect and un- 
satisfactory, it will, I think, be generally admitted that the 
existing drought is the worst which pastoralists have so far 
experienced, as well along the coast as in the Western districts. 
My own observation, after an experience extending over many 
years, has led me to the conclusion that the Western districts 
of New South Wales and the South-western part of Queensland 
suffer more severely from drought than the Central- Western 
districts of this State, while portions of our coast country may 
properly be described as dry belts, a term that can scarcely 
apply to any part of the coast of New South Wales. 


How to remedy the evil effects of drought—for this we 
must suffer from in the future as we have done in the past—is 
a difficult problem to solve. The finding of artesian water has 
not so far helped in this direction; nor is it likely to do so as 
long as by continually raising rents pastoralists are tempted to 
crowd too many stock on their holdings. This has up to the 
present accentuated the distress and augmented the common 
loss. Something may be done by storing fodder in good 
seasons to help the stock through those that are dry; but when 
consideration is given to the enormous supplies that must be 
kept on hand for this purpose and the risk of losing much of it 
by fire, it is evident that this cannot be relied upon to cure the 
evil. By irrigating as large an area as practicable on each of 
the Western stations, relief may be to some extent secured ; 
but even so, how far can the artesian supply, if it should per- 
manently answer for irrigating purposes, be relied upon? Our 
late Government Geologist, Mr. Jack, has warned us that the 
supply is by no means inexhaustible. May it not be possible, 
by cultivating indigenous as well as imported grasses, to provide 
a more reliable supply both of green and dry fodder for use in 
droughty seasons? The cultivation of Paspalum dilatatum has 
shown what may be done in the coastal districts. Are we to 
regard it as an impossibility that suitable grasses and shrubs 
may be successfully grown in the arid parts of the country ? 
Here undoubtedly is an experiment worth trying; but it must 
be conducted by an expert, and, unfortunately, the authorities 
have not yet discovered that we have such an one in our 


160 SETTLING IN QUEENSLAND, ETC. 


much-respected Colonial Botanist, Mr. Frederick Manson Bailey. 
The services of the only man in the State who I believe 
has a thorough knowledge of the subject, are to be dispensed 
with because it has not yet been realized that the store of know- 
ledge which his age has enabled him to accumulate, inay be used 
for one of the most practical purposes which the pastoral 
interest stands so much in need of. I do not contend that new 
grasses and new herbage may be easily found which will resist 
drought in the West; but why should we assume that they can- 
not be found? Should efforts in this direction prove 
unsuccessful, we surely may hope that drought-resisting shrubs 
can be found. The long-despised prickly pear, Opuntia vulgaris 
of the botanists, has saved many hundreds, if not thousands of 
stock. We have also amongst our indigenous plants the mulga, 
appletree, oak, bottletree, and others which have kept 
anim-ls alive, if not healthy, for many months in 
succession, a fact which ought to encourage pastoralists 
to persevere. At least they might cultivate patches 
of these. And why should not the Government assist 
in a work which aims at so much good to the State by 
adding to the value of Crown lands? We have agricultural 
experts, tobacco experts, fruit experts, dairy experts, and 
others whose special business it is to assist agriculture in its 
various forms. Would it be too much to ask that experiments 
in the direction I have indicated be initiated for the benefit of 
the pastoral industry, under the direction of our exceptionally 
well-informed Government Botanist, Mr. Bailey? Surely this 
would be wiser than sleeping on until another drought overtakes 
us; and the cost need not be large. The trees which have been 
keeping thousands of stock alive for s> long are being extermi- 
nated. Have those persons, who have derived so great benefit 
from them, even begun to consider what substitute may be 
provided in place of them if they should not be quickly replaced ? 


AUSTRALIAN WOODBORING COSSIDAE. 


¢ Endoxyla macleayi,” Scorr; “ L. boisduraliti,”’ Rotus: ‘ Culama 
Y Yt, ’ ’ 
expressa,’’ Lucas ; WITH INCIDENTAL REFERENCE TO OTHER 
SPECIES. : 


(Prats YVII.) 


By R. ILLIDGE and AMBROSE QUAIL, F.E:S. 
[Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 17th January, 1908.) 


WE are not in a position to offer a systematic classification of 
the Cossidae,* but believe this paper will be of value as a contri- 
bution thereto ; indeed this will be something, for authorities do 
not agree as to their treatment. Pro tempore, we adopt Rebel’s 
(Iris xi.) subdivision of this group into Cossinae and Zeuzerinae, 
of which there appear to be some forty-five species in Australia 
—eleven Cossinae, thirty-four Zeuzerinae, to which may be 
added three species of Phragmataecinae. The group is entirely 
without representatives in New Zealand. 

We regret exceedingly having been unable to procure ova 
for examination, but it may be of interest to note that the ovum 
of Cossus cossus (Hurope) is ornamented with ‘crystalline ”’ 
sculpture on the eggshell; nor have we examined newly-hatched 
larvae, doubtless the first instar will furnish details of value, 
but these groups do not differ widely in any stage as to larval 
structure, according to Dyer} only in the absence in the first 
instar of the tubercle above the base of the abdominal feet. The 
material with which we are familiar consists of larvae older than 
the first instar, and some pupae. 


* We understand Rothschild is engaged on a revision of the group. 
+ Dr. Dyer, New York Academy Science, 1894. 


162 AUSTRALIAN WOODBORING COSSIDAE 


It is generally conceded that the earlier lepidopterous larvae 
were phytophagous, and it is well known that many Hepiali are 
subterranean feeders. Our previous paper} dealt with ‘* Austra- 
lasian Woodboring Hepialidae,’” we cannot, however, separate 
Hepialidae into two distinct phylogenetic groups—phytophagous 
and lignivorous— it seems rather that some Hepialidae inde- 
pendently from time to time acquired lignivorous habits, in an 
evolutionary sense these may be regarded as higher than those 
of phytophagous habit. 


We may note, however, there is little difference in actual 
habits between phytophagous and lignivorous Hepialidae. Sub- 
terranean species burrow more or less vertically into the earth, 
and pupate without any cocoon in the vertical larva burrow. 
Woodborers likewise burrow vertically downwards, the only 
approach to a pupal cocoon being that a prepupal operculum is 
constructed, which seals up the vertical bore or the horizontal 
galleries ; there is also throughout the larval existence an outer 
(external) cover. 


There was probably little differentiation amongst early 
Lepidoptera as regards larval habits, differentiation accompanied 
specialisation, and we may trace the habit of existing Lepidoptera, 
exposed feeders, case bearers, leaf miners, to progenitors whose 
habits were similar, living in primeval marshlands, where 
Neuroptera passed their developmental stages in shallow pools, 
micropterygid-lepidoptera fed among damp mosses, and 
Hepialidae derived subsistence from the roots of grasses and 
ferns. Having acquired the habit of feeding in the interior of 
reeds, as do existing Phragmataecinae, some Cossid progenitors 
became lignivorous, and their larvae are now almost exclusively 
so. 


‘ 

Cossidae larvae burrow indifferently up or down in saplings, 
branches, or trunks of trees of large growth. At an early age* 
the lava commences to bore, and covers the burrow with an 
external cover (Zeuzera) or with a loose web (Endoxyla) 
sometimes a prepupal cover is constructed (Endoxyla), some 
pupate without a cocoon, others construct a pupal cocoon. 
Zeuzerinae do not leave the larval burrow—like Hepialidae— 


t Trans. Royal Soc., Queensland, Vol. XVI. 

* The very earliest stage of the larva is not passed in the wood, and 
calls for special investigation, as to what is the exact habit when first 
hatched. 


BY R. ILLIDGE AND AMBROSE QUAIL, F.E.S. 163 


until the pupa forces its anterior segments out of the burrow 
for the imago to emerge. Young Cossus larvae feed at first 
beneath the bark of the tree, then burrow into the wood, there 
to spend, as do Hepialidae and Zeuzerinae a lengthy existence 
often of three or four years. ‘The habits of Cossinae are not so 
exclusive as those of Hepialidae and Zeuzerinae, the external cover 
is often absent (Culama), indeed we have frequently observed 
the larva of Cossus cossus when full fed, expose its whole leneth 
to warm sunshine, moreover it will commonly leave its larval 
burrow to pupate elsewhere, even in the earth away from its 
ligneous habitat. May it be that a too numerous colony 
(Cossus and Culama are gregarious) in the same tree, by 
breaking in up)n each others burrows, always strictly avoided 
by Hepialidae, become a source of irritation, or even danger at 
the critical time of changes to the pupal condition, and the 
larva is compelled to pupate elsewhere. The normal habit 
appears to be that the larva tunnels to the bark which it eats 
away, leaving however a very thin surface, and it may be noted 
these larvae frequently fill their burrows with a kind of solidified 
sawdust (Hepialidae scrupulously eject all frass). +A cocoon of 
silk and chips is constructed within which it pupates, in the 
immediate vicinity of the exit; finally the pupa forces its 
anterior segments through the thin outer cover of the burrow 
and the imago emerges. 


Always remembering the limited material at our command, 
so far as it goes our observations show that Zeuzerinae and 
Cossinae may be associated by some identical larval structures. 
The number of scutellar setae of prothorax, the tubercle 
arrangement (and spiracle scars) of meso and post thoracic 
segments, the lateral thoracic intersegmental tubercle; the 
duplicate remote supraspiracular seta, the position of the basal 
setae, and the hooks of the abdominal feet. These structures 
are not peculiar to Cossidae, being also observed in other groups 
(composing Dyer’s superfamily Cossina), but they sharply and 
distinctly separate Cossidae from Hepialidae, which cannot be 
associated. 

Some larval features appear to afford good characters upon 
which we may separate Zeuzerinae from Cossinae. The Zeuzerin 
prothoracic scutellum, viewed laterally, slopes upward and 
backward in dorsal outline, so that the leneth from front to back 


+ Proc. Roy. Soc. Queensland Vol. XIV. (Illidge). 


164 AUSTRALIAN WOODBORING COSSIDAE 


is considerably more than the length of the ventral surface of 
the prothorax; the produced posterior area of the scutellum is 
provided with numerous spicules (Zeuzera, Endoxyla). The 
prothoracic scutellum of Cossinae is smooth, not produced 
posteriorly, being confined to normal and proper limits, the 
posterior margin parallel to the anterior margin (Cossus, 
Culama). 


An important feature in Zeuzerinae is the presence on the 
dorsum of the abdominal segments of minute tubercles (one 
each side) with seta, in front of the typical anterior trapezoidal 
tubercles (Zeuzera, Endoxyla), but which are not observable in 
Cossinae. These tubercles are probably homologous with the 
thoracic intersegmental tubercles, observed also in Cossinae, and 
in other groups of Lepidoptera. Mr. A. Bacot, in a letter some 
years ago, drew our attention to these (abdominal) tubercles on 
the larva of Zeu era pyrini (Europe), he having also observed 
those of the thorax in several isolated groups of Lepidoptera 
e.g. Lycenidae, Psychidae. We have noted such thoracic 
intersegmental tubercles with setae in newly-hatched and adult 
Hepialidae*, in Lysiphragma (Tineina) without setat; they are 
also present in Tortricina (Cacaecia) and others. Bacot believes 
this to be a once common character, now generally lost in 
Lepidoptera, and had not then detected the setae which are 
present on the thoracic and abdominal tubercles in question of 
Endoxyla. We have been unable to find whether Dr. Dyer is 
aware of these extra abdominal tubercles. 

We are no’ inclined to insist upon minor differences; that 
Zeuzerin larvae are circular or nearly so in transverse section ; 
Cossinae, being flatter, are barely more than semi-circular ; that 
Zeuzerinae have middorsal spiculate abdominal humps, and 
some other features, as young larvae in either group may be 
more alike. 

A consideration of the pupal structure affords additional 
support to the conclusions arrived at from larval characters as to 
the separation of Hepialidae from Cossidae,} and the subdivision 
of Cossidae. The pupae bear a superficial resemblance to each 


* Trans. Ento. Soc., Lon., 1900 (Quail). 

+ Trans. New Zealand Institute, 1900 (Quail). 

t We wish to emphasize that these groups cannot be associated, which, 
of course, is generally admitted, but are sometimes treated of or referred to 
as if they were. Their primitive ancestors were probably neither Hepialid 
nor Cossid, but had some of the characters now found in each group. 


BY R. ILLIDGE AND AMBROSE QUAIL, F.E.S. 165 


other, but, when examined closely, we find sufficient points of 
distinction between the groups. 


The Hepialid pupa is remarkably cylindrical, Cossidae are 
not so. Hepialidae have dorsal and ventral segmental spines, 
Cossidae have the dorsal spines only. The Hepialid antenna is 
diminutive, reaching only to the ‘‘knee”’ of 2ni leg, in fact 
that portion of the antenna which extends beyond the pro-meso- 
thoracic suture is half its entire length. The Cossid antenna 
reaches to fully half the wing margin being some four times the 
length of the basal portion. The ancestors of these groups had 
comparatively short pupal antennae, and if Cossidae are derived 
from progenitors with antennae like those of typical existing 
Hepialidae, then the latter are lower in the evolutionary scale 
than Cossidae, which will have specialized in having developed 
antennae of greater length. 

The Lepidopterous pupa has its appendages—legs, wing- 
cases, etc., extending beyond the thoracic segments downwards, 
adherent to certain abdominal segments which become incor- 
porated with more or less fixity, so as to lose their individual 
movement; the terminal (anal) segments likewise become one 
coherent mass, in varying number, and movement of the pupa 
is thus confined to the intermediate segments, of which the 
incisions remain free and functional. Dr. Chapman has pointed 
out the importance of this structural character, in classification. + 


The wing cases of Hepialidae adhere to the abdominal 
segments 1 and 2, that they have become integral parts of the 
anterior mass is shown in that the spiracle of 2 is subdorsal, 
and on dehiscence they (the wing cases) still adhere to those 
abdominal segments. In Hepialidae the free segments are 
Geoneno,0, 7; 2 3, 4, 5, 6. 

The Cossid spiracles are normal in position, and on dehis- 
cence the appendages lose their apparent fixity to the abdominal 
segments, remaining attached only by the inner membrane of 
3rd legs and hindwings, the disseverance exposing to view the 
abdominal spiracles (1 and 2) in normal position, until then 
covered by the wing cases. In Zeuzerinae the free segments are 
é 3, 4,5,6,7; 2 3,4, 5,6. In Cossidae the free segments 
are & 4, 5,6, 7, 2 4,5, 6. In respect of incorporation of the 
numbers of abdominal segments into the anterior mass Hepia- 
lidae are the lowest, there being a tendency in Zeuzerinae to 


+ Trans. Ento. Soc. Lond., 1892. 


166 AUSTRALIAN WOODBORING COSSIDAE 


incorporate segment 3 also, and in Cssinae 3 is so incorporated, 
but Cossidae—both Zeuzerinae and Cossinae—retain a character 
relatively more ancient than that of Hepialidae, that is, the 
freeing by disseverance of the appendages from the abdominal 
seginents on dehiscence. 

ZEUZERINAE— ENDOXYLA.* 

Description of larvae.—-The dorsal horns of anal segment 
may prove a good generic character. ‘he arrangement of scutel- 
lar spicules is probably a good specific character. 

F. boisduvalii—** Roths.”’ (Plate VII., Fig. 6.) 

+ The larva at an early age feeds beneath a light-coloured 
silken web, which falls off subsequently when the larva has 
burrowed into the wood of the tree; our description is made 
from a larva 35mm. in length, it has at this stage a very pleas- 
ing plumage, being ringed alternately red and yellow, it is in 
appearance quite an elegant aristocratic larva, but with approach- 
ing maturity loses its remarkable coloration. 


* Derived from endo and xulon. 

+ The first intimation of the presence of the larva is readily noted by this 
freshly-formed web of loose silk and gnawed pieces of the bark of the tree, 
upon raising which the caterpillar may be seen, either partly buried in the 
bark and young wood or quite entered within the small tunnel it has bored. 
Later on the bark begins to grow over the opening made into the tree, the 
web falls off or is blown away by the wind, and a small circular sear is the 
only indication then left of the insect inside the tree. The larva continues 
tunnelling towards the centre of the tree, increasing in size, and the bore 
becoming larger. Having gone as far as the heart of the tree, or nearly so, 
it cu ves upwards at right angles to its former course for from 6 to 8 inches, 
and completes the remainder of its existence by feeding upon the constantly 
forming young wood and sappy matter, sometimes making two or three 
short pseudo-bores at the foot of the perpendicular tunnel, which together 
form a large chamber within the stem of the tree. Having attained full 
growth within it prepares for its change and exit as an imago or winged 
insect by gnawing outwardly with its powerful cutting mandibles, and forms 
a clean cut round hole often nearly an inch and a-half in diameter upon 
the outside of the tree. This opening is frequently blocked up by triturated 
fragments of wood loosely spun together with silk. The next process is the 
retreat of the insect to the perpendicular tunnel, where it first forms a most 
singular network of a very viscous substance from 13 inch to 2 inches in 
depth, which when first formed is a pure glistening white, but becomes 
yellow with age. On this it forms its operculum of finely triturated wood 
closely felted together with silk and saliva. Having completed all its 
arrangements the larva, now head downwards, and quite filling up the 
chamber-room left, turns toa pupa (chrysalis), and in the course of a month 
or six weeks, occasionally longer, the imago emerges in the manner usual to 
insects of this group. 


BY R. ILLIDGE AND AMBKUSE QUAIL, F.E.S. 167 


Head is yellowish brown ; scutellum has the anterior half 
blackish, except at margin which is yellowish, as is the posterior 
area; segmental area of prothorax is yellow ; mesothorax thinly 
bright red dorsally and subdorsally, yellow below; postthorax 
and 1 to 9 abdominal segments are divided transversely, anterior 
red, posterior yellow, sections, above the spiracles the band is 
dull red, at and below the spiracles and ventrally it is bright 
red ; the posterior dorsal humps are brighter red than are the 
anterior humps; the anal segment is wholly yellowish brown. 


Shape: Viewed dorsally, is uniform, robust ; viewed late- 
rally, the meso and post-thoracic segments are ‘‘ weaker’ than 
others. Head: Finely striate. Prothorax: Scutellum finely 
striate anteiior, and finely spiculate on posterior area, four larger 
spicules are arranged in a trapezoidal position, é.e., two in front 
approximate (with some minute spicules between them) and two 
posterior remote. On either cide of the median line of scutellum 
are one anterior, two posterior dorsal setae on the unspiculate 
area of scutellum; two anterior and one ventral setae are on a 
lateral subdivision of the scutellum; a prespiracular tubercle 
bears two long setae with a small inner seta near the spiracle. 
Spiracle is very large, above the legs a tubercle bears two setae. 
Meso and post thorax: the dorsal and subdorsal setae are dupli- 
cate pairs; lower a more central lateral tubercle bears a single 
seta, and an anterior tubercle bears also a single seta, between 
these tubercles a rudimentary spiracle or scar may be detected ; 
a lower anterior tubercle bears a single seta, and tubercle above 
legs bears one seta. 


Abdominal segments: the dorsal humps are divided trans- 
versely, not longitudinally, and are covered with minute spicules, 
the anterior hump is largest. The trapezoidal tubercles are 
normal with a single seta each, placed on the segmental area, 
not on the humps. The supraspiracular tubercle has a single 
long seta above the large oval spiracle, and there is a remote 
anterior supra spiracular tubercle with a minute seta. The sub- 
spiracular tubercles each have a single seta, the anterior highest 
in position; above the legs a tubercle bears one central seta ; 
the basal setae are three in number, one being above the others, 
not in line with them. Segment 9 has the anterior trapezoidals 
remote, posterior trapezoidals inner; 10 has two small blunt 
protuberances of red colour representing what in other species 
are a pair of anal horns, the setae are one anterior, one level 
with horn, one posterior, one more lateral, three lateral setae 


168 AUSTRALIAN WOODBORING COSSIDAE 


are below the anal flap, and basal setae are on the anal claspers. 
The abdominal feet have a single row of hooks, the interspace 
being pear-shape. In addition to the typical tubercles described, 
the intersegmental area of pro-meso-post-thorax carries two 
minute setae one below the other, a little below the subdorsal 
pair of thoracic setae in position. On the abdominal segments 
a minute seta is placed on the anterior margin longitudinally 
in line with the posterior trapezoidal tubercle; it appears to be 
frequently turned under out of sight by contraction of the 
segments. 

EF. macleayi—‘‘ Scott.”” (Plate VII, figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.) 

Larvae varying in length from 47 mm. to 67 mm. have 
been examined, and are identical as regards structure, and we 
especially noted the scutellar spicules were so. Head brown, 
scutellum anterior area brown, with middorsal and lateral areas 
black, general colour of body dirty pale brown, with pinkish 
lateral flanges, blackish spiracles, brown legs, and abdominal 
feet. 


Shape: Viewed dorsally is robust, uniform except that the 
subdorsal tubercles of mesothorax protrude conspicuously ; 
viewed laterally meso and post thorax are smaller than abdominal 
segments, which latter are produced to prominent humps on the 
middorsal outline (as the preceding species) ; 8 and 9 are without 
humps; 10 hasa pair of postero dorsal horns—distinct chitinous 
(not fleshy) processes curved backwards. 


Structure : Head freely striate, clypeus with straight sutures 
having two setae one before other at lower corners; ocelli four, 
in fairly close crescent, one lower, another near and below 
antenna; jaws dentate; maxillae short and stout with one 
palpus developed. 

Prothorax: scutellum slopes (as in preceding species) 
upward and backward from the small caput, the anterior half 
striate transversely, posterior area covered with chitinous 
spicules of which three of the largest are in line, considerably in 
front of the others; these spicules are hollow protuberances 
(shown by dissection of the thorax) as much so as cow’s 
horn, they are somewhat irregular in size, more numerous 
and more minute towards the outer and posterior edges of 
scutellum. The larger spicules are invariably blunt at the 
top, the smaller ones intermixed are sharp pointed. The 
function of the scutellar spicules is evidently to act as a saw or 
rasp upon the wood of the tree, thereby assisting the work of 


BY R. ILLIDGE AND AMBROSE QUAIL, F.E.S. 169 


the jaws, such action causing the larger spicules to become 
blunter, the spicules are directed backwards (i.e., upward). 


The tubercles and setae of thoracic and abdominal segments 
are as described of the preceding species. The prothoracic 
spiracle is extremely large, earshaped with convex curve posterior. 
Owing to innumerable number of brown spicules which cover 
the thoracie and abdominal segments on dorsum, laterally, and 
ventrally, intersegmental tubercles cannot be detected, nor can 
the extra abdominal setae, except the small remote supra- 
spiracular. 


These larvae grow to a very large size, we have a specimen 
which is, we believe, this species in its ultimate instar, in 
length 16:4 cm.; in width, 19 mm.; being so large it offers a 
good subject to examine for different structures. The colour is 
dirty whitish yellow, jaws brown, head dark brown shading to 
yellow at suture of clypeus, scutellum yellow anterior margin 
with dark brown shading to reddish either side of a V shape 
median mark yellow in colour which spreads over the whole 
posterior area of scutellum on which the spicules show distinctly 
as little brown dots; the abdominal humps are slightly brownish 
from the numerous brown spicules; the tubercles are little 
brown areas on the skin, but the spiracles are very dark brown, 
almost black, raised oval rims, the dorsum of the anal segment 
is brown with posterior horns of darker brown colour. 


In most respects it agrees with the above description as 
regards structure, but the frontal spicules are fowr in number, 
the largest of the hinder flanking spicules marking the 
trapezoid similar to Boisduvali. The skin of the thoracic 
segments has numerous brown spicules, but the abdominal 
segments are practically free from spicules except on the humps. 
The pro-meso-thoracic intersegment carries a dorsal seta 
(almost hidden by posterior edge of scutellum) just below the 
dorsal pair of setae in position, anc two lateral setae below the 
subdorsal pair of setae. ‘The meso-post thoracic intersegmental 
area carries two lateral setae, but cannot detect dorsal setae. 
The extra dorsal anterior setae of abdominal segments are just 
below the posterior trapezoidal tubercles in longitudinal position ; 
it seems probable that the minute anterior supraspiracular 
tubercle is homologous with the lower thoracic intersegmental 
seta, which it resembles in size, and approximates in position. 


The extra tubercle of 9th abdominal segment are a little more 
O 


170 AUSTRALIAN WOODBORING COSSIDAE 


dorsal in position than the second (inner) tubercle. Abdominal 
feet have a single row of hooks. 

Pupa of F. macleayi, & length 10°4¢.m. (Plate VIL., 
Figs. 18, 14, 15, 16). 

Almost unicolorous dark brown in colour, with darker 
polished areas on pro-meso-thorax, wing and leg cases. The 
wing cases extend partly over the third abdominal segment, but 
are not adherent at any rate on dehiscence, they are then 
detached and connected only by the inner membrane of legs and 
hind wings to the second abdominal segment, the spiracles of 
1st and 2nd abdominal segments may be seen, normal in 
structure and in position uncovered by the semi-detached wing- 
cases. 

The head on dehiscence carries antennae, eyecovers, etc., as 
one piece, terminating with an anterior apparatus with a chisel- 
like organ ; between the eyes another, and still lower a pair of 
similar chisel-like organs. 

The abdominal segments have the anterior row of dorsal 
spines best developed, the posterior row being merely a thin line 
of spicules, the anterior spines are curious as regards shape, 
each having at its tip a cuplike hollow; there are no ventral 
spines, the scars of abdominal feet are very distinct, but are not 
spinous. Segment 8 has no dorsal spines, but transverse 
lateral series more strongly developed than are the dorsal spines 
of other segments—this is so with pupae of LH. affinis- 
Segments 9 and 10 are smooth, except for a few spicules which 
may be related to hooks of anal claspers, the scar of the 
cloacal aperture is distinctly marked. The sexua’ organ extends 
from 9-10 suture forward to about middle of 8th, being a 
slightly raised polished surface, where it meets a V and again 
continues as a thin straight line. The free segments are 
3, 4, 5, 6, 7; in 2 the free segments are 3, 4, 5, 6. 


CosstvAE—CuLAMA. 

C. expressa— Lucas.”’* (Plate VII. Figs. 7, 7a, 7b, 7e, 
7d, 8,9, 10.) 

Of all the internal wood-feeding larvae we have known 
this is the most gregarious, one piece of branch less than a foot 
in length containing ten larvae. The burrows may be distinct 
and run parallel with each other, or may coalesce and in one and 
the samé burrow quite young and older larvae are found. As may 


* Trans. Linne Soc. N.S.W., 1902. 


BY R. ILLIDGE AND AMBROSE QUAIL, F.E.S. ala! 


be imagined the damage to the tree is proportionately great, the 
wood (Aeygiceras majus), however is tough, and despite the 
removal of the interior by Culama larvae, still looks solid, 
showing no external evidence of the ravages committed, and 
Termitidae could not do their work more effectually than do 
these larvae. 


The larvae under observation were of various sizes 6 to 
35 mm. Colour: it recalls the larva of Cossus cossus, being 
bright red and pale pink ventrally, head dark red, jaws brown, 
scutellum brownish, spiracles, thoracic lees and hooks of 
abdominal feet brown. 


Shape: Very uniform, flat viewed laterally, broad dorsally ; 
the head is small retractile; of the thoracic segments prothorax 
is longest, mesothorax wilest ; 1 and 2 abdominal segments are 
smaller than thoracic segments, the succeeding six (four of 
which carry abdominal feet) are more robust; 9 and 10, of 
course, are terminal and smaller. 


Structure: Head smooth, ocelli pale, in crescent of five 
with one forward below antenna; two setae are enclosed by 
ocelli; jaws curved dentate; maxillae, one palpus developed 
others minute ; labial palpi anterior to spineret, which is short 
and stout. No perceptible difference between the organs of 
caput in this species, and of Endoxyla. 


Prothorax: Scutellum smooth, anterior transmarginal ; 
setae three each side, two transposterior setae, one mid lateral 
near edge of scutellum, anterior to the spiracular position. On 
each side of the scutellum is a depression less definite, but not 
unlike in position to the scutellar concavity of Charagia 
(Hepialidae, Xyloryctina also have similar scutellar depressions) ; 
also there are three (apparently) rudimentary circular tubercle 
bases without seta, in arrangement not unlike the scutellar trans- 
median setae of other Hepialidae. We are not sure that these 
are on the outer surface or inner (showing through) of the 
scutellar integument, they would most likely be overlooked, unless 
one had a knowledge of the Hepialidae, and being observed on 
all the expressa larvae examined they are at least worth men- 
tioning. Spiracle is oval, large, not extremely posterior. 
Prespiracular setae, three in number, smallest near spiracle ; 
above the legs a longitudinal tubercle bears two setae; the 
scutellum of Culama differs from that of Endoxyla. 

Meso and post thoracic segments: the dorsal and sub- 
dorsal tubercles are duplicate pairs, a little lower a more central 


172 AUSTRALIAN WOODBORING COSSIDAE 


tubercle and an anterior tubercle; each bear a single seta, with 
spiracle scar between, but not so distinct as in Endoxyla; a 
lower anterior tubercle bears a single seta. In addition to the 
typical tubercles, an intersegmental midlateral tubercle bears 
two setae in position a little lower than the subdorsal pair of 
setae. 


Abdominal segments: have two subsegments, the larger 
anterior subsegment carries all the tubercles, except the posterior 
trapezoidals which are on the posterior smaller subsegment. 
Dorsal elevations form the areas from which rise the trapezoidal 
setae in normal position ; the other tubercles are as in Kndoxyla. 
The minute anterior supraspiracular tubercle with seta is present, 
but the anterior minute dorsal seta cannot be detected. Ter- 
minal hooks of abdominal feet are as in Endoxyla, consisting of 
a single row, each hook having a long embedded shaft with a 
strong free hook. ‘The anal claspers have hooks only on the 
inner edge. All setae are smooth. The skin of thoracic 
segments is spinulose only on dorsal area. 


Pupa of Culuma expressa. (Plate VII., figures 11, 12.) 
? length 21 mm.; greatest width, 8.5 mm. 


Almost unicolorous brown, dorsum rather darker, spines 
still darker brown ; probably when alive the wing cases are more 
or less transparent, as in the case with other wood feeders 
(Charagia); preservation in spirits while hardening the tissues 
renders them opaque. The dorsum curves definitely from 1 to 
anal segment, ventrally from 7—10. Meso thorax has distinct 
lateral ‘shoulders,’ prothorax and head abruptly tapering. 
The anterior (heal) apparatus, which in Endoxyla is very 
prominent, is in Culama expressa represented by three parallel 
ridges passing back to suture of prothorax and ventrally to 
between eyes, where a raised area carries a depression and ter- 
minates with a broad chisel-like apparatus. The antennae pass 
behind the eyes with a very wide curve, and terminate ventrally 
about the locality of 1-2 abdominal incision, if same could be 
seen ventrally. The superior wing cases extend from mesothorax 
to suture 3-4 abdominal segments, rather slightly beyond, but 
in no way adherent to 4th abdominal. The short maxillae ? 
and mandible ?, Ist and 2nd pairs of legs, are between the 
antennae on ventral surface, tips of 3rd pair of legs show between 
the apices of the wing cases. The dorsal incisions between 1—7 
abdominal segments are distinct, the ventral incisions only 
between 3—7 are so, segments 7—10 are fused into one coherent 


Proc. Roy. Soo. Q’Lann, Vou. xvu. Puate VII. 


BY R. ILLIDGE AND AMBROSE QUAIL, F.E.S. 1738 


mass, thus 4, 5, 6, are free segments. Abdominal segments 1 
to 6 each have posterior and anterior parallel rows of strong 
spines across the dorsum ; 7, 8, 9, have a single row each; 10 
has three lateral spines on each side. The scar of the cloacal 
aperture appears as a postero ventral median line, the sexual 
organs appear as a median linear depression on the ventral sur- 
face of 8—9 segments. The pro-meso-thoracic sutural spiracle 
opening is rather large, and abdominal spiracles 2% to 7 are in 
normal position, 8 appears as a rudimentary scar. On dehis- 
cer.ce the head, antennae, and mouth parts (ventral appendages) 
separate as one piece—corresponding to that of Hepialidae— 
the legs and wing cases remain attached loosely (divided cen- 
trally) to the general body of the pupa. The suture with Ist 
abdominal opens dorsally to near the tips of wing cases ventrally 
the wing cases becoming semi-detached throughout. 

The 4 pupa differs from the ¢ in being less robust and in 
having segments 4, 5, 6, 7, free. 

The chisel-like apparatus of the head presents a marked 
difference from Endoxyla. 


EXxpLaANATION oF Puate VII. 


Figure 1. Endoxyla macleayi larva:—Heud, prothorax, mesothorax, nat. 
size. 


2. "3 > Pe Dorsal view abdominal segment, 
nat. size 

abe . A 3 Lateral view anal segment showing 
posterior horns, nat. size 

4, 3 8 - Scutellum showing spicules, nat. size 

5. ” ” ” ” ” ” ultimate 
instar, nat size 

6. » boisduvalit ,, Scutellum showing spicules, nat. 
size 

7. Culama expressa ,, Head, prothorax, mesothorax, mag- 
nified 

Ta. as is PA Antenna largely magnified (x250) 

7b. ” ” ” Maxilla ” ” ” 

Te. 09 0 a Spineret and palpi _,, a 

7d. a a Mandible largely a 3 

8. 53 a as Dorsal view abdominal segment 
magnified 

9. 33 - e Lateral view abdominal segment 
magnified 

10. ro ss - Hooks of abdominal feet (x250) 

11. + + pupa Head-piece magnified 

Tie * * x & Segments 7, 8, 9, 10, magnified 


13. Endoxyla macleayi pupa Head-piece nat. size 

a s profile nat. size 

15. » 33 3 Segmental spine largely magnified 
(x250) 


16. a 58 » Segments 7, 8, 9, 10, nat. size 


AUSTRALIAN WOODBORING COSSIDAE 


174 


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—y NIOGVLYNOVUR 


ON THE COMMON WHITING OF MORETON BAY 


(Sillago Bassensis). 


(Prates VIII.—XIV.) 


By JAS. R. TOSH, M.A., B. Sc. 


GovERNMENT Marine Brotoeist, QuEENSLAND. 


[Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 15th November, 1902.| 


Sillago Bassensis, Cuy. & Val. Poiss. III., p. 412. 
Synonyms.—S. V'errae-Reginae. Cast., Proc. Lin. Soc., 
N58. W.,, vol. IE; p.1282. 

S. ciliata. Gunth. Cat. Fishes I1., p, 245. 

S. de Bass. Quoy and Gaymard, voy. 
Astrolabe, Poiss., pl. I., fig. 2. 

S. Bassensis. Cast. Proc. Lin. Soc., N.S,W., 
vol. III., p. 380. 


Local names—whiting, trumpeter whiting. There has 
been some confusion as to this species. Cuvier and Valenciennes 
give the fin formula as D. 11—1/18, A. 1/12, and immediately 
thereafter, ‘‘ Il y a deux epines a son anale.’’ 

Count Castelnau—loc. cit.—describes as S. Terrae-Reginae, 
a whiting caught in great numbers in Moreton Bay with this 
formula, D. 10—1/18, A. 2/15, L. lat. 64, but in the next 
volume of the same publication he goes back to $8. Bassensis. 

Dr. Gunther under the name S. ciliata gives a description 
that fits the common Moreton Bay whiting, but Cuvier and 
Valenciennes, who established the species, say distinctly it has 
no silvery streak along the side. This streak Gunther adds, 
and as it stands his description of S. ciliata, fits S. Bassensis 
better than any I have seen of the latter species. 


176 ON THE COMMON WHITING OF MORETON BAY 


The S. de Bass, figured by Quoy and Gaymard, differs from 
the Moreton Bay fish in several particulars. |The teeth are too 
large. The first ray of the ventral fin is not prolonged into two 
feeler-like filaments. The denticulations of the operculum are 
too prominent and do not extend forward from the angle. The 
first dorsal fin has 12 spines instead of 11. The markings on 
the dorsal fins are spots. In Queensland specimens they are on 
the first dorsal irregular blotches, and on the second blotchings 
fairly regular in shape and arranged in rows. The anal fin 
shows 2/19. 


The formula is D. 11—1/17; A. 2/16; V.1/5; P. 15; L. 
lat. 68; L. trans. 5/12. The back is coloured to resemble the 
sandy ground over which the fish moves. When freshly taken 
it varies from a yellowy green in fair sized fish to a greeny grey 
in old specimens—parts of the scales showing silvery in some 
lights, with here and there a fleck of gold. After being out of 
the water some time the back is silvery blue or golden green, 
according to how the light falls. ‘The head is of the same 
colour as the back but becoming dark in old fish. Thereis much 
variation in the colour of the under side of the head—usually 
white but often with much dark colouring. The colour of the 
back shades down into a silvery grey on the lower parts of the 
sides and an enamel white on the belly. The broad median 
band is of a silvery yellow becoming indistinct with age. The 
band often disappears in preserved specimens. 


The first dorsal fin has brown blotches on the membrane 
between the rays. In the second dorsal the blotches are small 
and in rows—from 8 to 5 blotches between every two rays. The 
anal is yellow. The ventrals are orange yellow. The pectoral 
is transparent with a blue black spot at the base. The under 
lobe of the tail is usually much worn. 


The opercle is finely denticulated on the angle and vertical 
margin. Small teeth are in both jaws on the vomer and pala- 
tines. ‘The anterior nostril has a small pointed flap on its back 
edge. The pupil of the eye is not round but drawn to a corner 
in front and on the under side—the corner in front is the more 
conspicuous. The scales are ctenoid. 


The whiting is one the most valuable of the food fishes in 
Queensland. A good-sized fish attains a length of 17 inches 
and weighs a pound and a-half. The name whiting was given 
because the flavour of the flesh was considered to resemble that 


BY JAS. Rk.’ TOSH, M.A!, "EB. SC: 177 


of the whiting of British waters. The latter species is one of 
the haddock family. The species under discussion at present 
belongs to the T'rachinidae. 


SPAWNING SEASON. 


The spawning time of the whiting may be stated to last from 
September to February. The first ripe fish taken were large 
males in June. Ripe females occured in fair quantity in 
September. In a female specimen just over 16 inches long and 
weighing 1lb. 82 ozs. the weight of the ovaries was 384 ozs., or 
about 14 per cent. of the total body weight. The fish were 
observed to have been feeding at intervals during the process of 
spawning. 

DEVELOPMENT. 

The egg of the whiting is small, measuring from -68 to 
-69 mm in diameter, and contains one oil globule, measuring 
about -18 mm in diameter (Pl. VIII. fig. 1.) It is a transparent 
sphere, and is pelagic. On the perivitelline membrane are a 
number of faint lines, wrinklings or thickenings of the 
membrane. ‘The pores in the outer capsule are visible for only 
a very short time after extrusion. The oil globule is not 
altogether transparent, but shows a black edging. 


After about 15 minutes in the water, the segmental disc 
(d. fig 2), shows on the under side of the egg. Fig. 8 is a side 
view of the disc just before segmentation begins. After fertilisa- 
tion, cell division begins—the 2-cell stage being reached when 
the egg has been half-an-hour in the water. Thereafter 
the disc divides rapidly into 4, 8, 16, 382 cells--the last- 
mentioned stage being reached at lhr. 85mins. No horizontal 
divisions could be seen at the 16-cell stage. Figs. 8 and 9 are the 
large- and small-cell morula stages—the latter occuring at 2hrs. 
40mins. Thereafter the cells become smaller rapidly, and 
proliferating at the edge of the disc tegin to envelop the yolk 
mass. Fig. 10 at 8$hrs. shows the blastoderm almost covering 
the yolk. (Lhe oil globule has been omitted in figs. 3 to 10). 


When the enveloping process is all but completed, the 
embryonic streak (em. fig. 11), is visible. At the same time, 
92hrs., pigment cells appear on the blastoderm especially over 
the oil globule. They are of a light grey colour, and irregularly 
stellate in shape. By 10 hrs. 40mins., the embryo is clearly 
outlined—the tail being twice as broad as the head. Pigment 
cells of a thin grey show on the body, the oil globule and on the 


178 ON THE COMMON WHITING OF MORETON BAY 


membrane near the tail. Yellow cells show along the sides of 
the body. The wrinklings are now much diminished. At 
12¢hrs. (fig. 12), the embryo shows the optic lobes, notochord 
and Kuppfer’s vesicle. At 144hrs., Kuppfer’s vesicle begins to 
be narrowed, and distinctly pointed towards the capsule as the 
tail elongates. Then it gets smaller, and appears to retreat from 
its position at the tip of the tail, and ultimately disappears after 
having existed for about 3 hours. Fig. 18 shows the optic lobes 
cut off, and the appearance of the muscle flakes on the body. 
At this stage, the rounded ends of the myomeres give a crenated 
appearance to the sides of the body. At 174 hours, the heart 
shows as an aggregation of cells on the breast, and an hour 
later is beating faintly. In fig, 14 at 19 hours, the optic 
vesicles have been invaginated, and the tail is slewed to one 
side of the oil drop. Fig. 15 is a side view of the stage shown 
in fig. 14. The heart (ht.) in a capsule under the chin, is a tube 
extending from the median line to the left and forward. The 
choroidal fissure of the eye is seen. Fig. 16, 22 hours, shows 
the otocyst and a membrane enveloping the oil globule, Just 
before hatching, a part of the continuous fin shows on the tail. 
The eggs from which the series of drawings so far were taken 
hatched at 234 hours from time of extrusion. The temperature 
of the water ranged from 25°6° to 27° C. 


The larvae figured on Plates X. and XI., were hatched in 
colder weather—temperature 22° to 23°C. The stage shown in 
fig. 17, occurred at 38 hours after extrusion. The continuous 
fin (c.f.) is well developed, and the vent and the urinary vesicle 
behind it are seen. The yellow pigment has taken its character- 
istic early larval arrangement. In figs. 18 and 19 the gut is 
shown forming and stretching forward to the yolk, while a few 
finely branching pigment cells show on the membrane enclosing 
the yolk. At 70 hours the pectoral fins make their appearance 
(fig. 20). The membrane enclosing the yolk, which has up to 
this stage maintained its position, as the yolk and oil globule 
diminished in size, now suddenly collapses, and the yolk moves 
forward. While the membrane remain d turgid it interfered 
with the locomotion of the larva, which was forced to swim in 
circles, but from this onward the young fish swims actively. 
Soon after hatching when the larva is floating passively, the 
position is horizontal and supine. From the stage shown at 
fig. 19, the position is vertical with the tail upmost. 


BY JAS. R. TOSH, M.A., B. SC. LTS 


Fig. 22, Plate XI., shows the beginning of the mouth cleft 
(m). Fig 23 is a top view of 22, and shows along the middle of 
the body a number of small clear bodies—usually 8 in number. 
The small circle on the continuous fin, close to the back, in fig. 
20, should not be there, but it represents one of these bosses on 
the left side of the body seen obliquely through the fin. They 
do not show at all on a side view. Fig. 23a is a horizontal long 
section through one of these bodies. It is an epidermal struc- 
ture with an almost glandular appearance enclosed in a split in 
the epidermis, and having nv evident connection with the under- 
lyiag layers of tissue. In the live animal these bodies are 
slightly stained by a very weak solution of Methylen Blue. At 
this stage the larvae are very active. 


Fig. 24—at 4 dys. 164 hrs.—shows the mouth formed and 
the yolk with the oil globule reduced almost to the vanishing 
point. The branching pigment cells disappear from the con- 
tinuous fin, and later are replaced by a few branching spots. 
Pigment is developed in the retina. The stomach and liver are 
formed. In figs. 25 and 26 the body is beginning to become 
opaque—the notochord showing as a lighter streak in the median 
line. The gut is now completed, and some of the divisious of 
the brain can be seen. Scales are formed at about one month. 


The times and sizes of the stages figured are given below. 


Hasrrat anp Hapstrs. 


Soon after the beginning of the spawning season young 
whiting of 10 mms. and over can be observed swimming actively 
in small droves of from 10 to 20 on sand flats and beaches. 
They move up and down with the tide, swimming in very shal- 
low water. As they grow older they keep further from the shore. 
The whiting may be said to live almost exclusively on sandy 
ground. The adults appear to be gregarious’ only at spawning 
time. 


The most characteristic habit of the whiting is that of 
burrowing in the sand to escape from enemies. In so doing the 
fish literally dives into the sand. The dive can be executed with 
great rapidity and is a most serviceable accomplishment. When 
fishing for whiting with a seine net one can observe as the bunt 
of the net nears the shore here and there a small cloud of sand 
thrown up; the fisherman marks the place, and when his net is 
in, wades out and feels about in the sand with his feet ; when a 


180 ON THE COMMON WHITING OF MORETON BAY 


fish moves under his foot he stamps his foot down to hold it 


there, and then picks it up with his hand. Often as many as a 
dozen fish are so taken which had otherwise escaped the foot- 
rope of the net. Very small whiting, an inch and a-half long, 
have the trick. When burying the whiting throws up its tail, 
and actually takes a header into the sand using its tail fin 
vigorously. Once the head is under, it appears to throw up like 
a diver, and when buried has got into a horizontal position. 
The whiting can remain down for 2 or 8 minutes. On an 
ordinary sand flat, a whiting can bury itself to a depth of from 
3 to 4 inches, but on a hard sand beach, it can hardly cover 
itself. The eyes, in such a case, show plainly against the sand, 
but immediately the net has passed over, the fish is up and 
away. 

When taken the whiting often makes a short, croaking, 
frog-like sound—whence the name trumpeter. 


Foon. 


A common article of diet is a small perch, Ambassis 
marianus,* which abounds in Moreton Bay. It is usually about 
l1tin. long, though the giants of the rage attain a length of 4in., 
and may be seen in shoals near every jetty in the Bay. 


Two species of crustacea are favourite food of the whiting, 
one the common soldier crab, Mycteris longicarpus, and the other 
locally known as the sand lobster, Callianassa sp. or an allied 
form (pl. XII., fig. 4). The soldier crab can burrow corkscrew 
fashion into the sand to escape attack, and the sand lobster lives 
for the most part in a network of tubes it has excavated in the 
sand, though in warm weather it is sail to come to the surface. 


Another item in the food list is evidently considered by the 
whiting to be a tit-bit. It is the proboscis of a spoon-worm 
(pl. XII., fig. 8.) . This worm lives in sand with which there is 
a good deal of mud. The body is from Yin. to a foot down, but 
the spoon or proboscis is sent up to feel round for food. The 
tube, in which the worm lives, opens usually about the middle 
of a slight hollow on the sand surface. In this depression, 
about 6in. of the proboscis is moved slowly about lying fiat out 
from the mouth of the tube. The proboscis is very extensile, 
and very sensitive and can be withdrawn with great rapidity on 
the approach of danger. It is very interesting to watch a 


*Kindly identified for me by Mr. J. Douglas Ogilby. 


BY JAS. R. TOSH, M.A., B. SC. 181 


whiting stalk one of these worms. The fish swimming low 
down carefully approaches one of these hollows, and after 
manoeuvering for position, suddenly makes a dart for the opening 
of the hole. All that falls to the share of the whiting is about 
half-an-inch of the lip of the rapidly retreating snout. The 
snout can be used effectively as bait. Both the sand-lobster and 
the spoon worm can be taken in quantity between tidemarks. 
Young whiting feed on small sand crustacea, and worms. 

I think it possible to connect the whiting’s habit of burying 
in the sand with the fact that it hunts its food largely among 
animals that take refuge there. 


Tur VentraL Fins. 


The ventral fin of the whiting is peculiar in having the first 
ray forked only once, and the divisions of the ray prolonged a 
quarter-of-an-inch or more beyond the tip of the fin. In swim- 
ing along the bottom the tips of the ventral fins are trailed over 
the surface, and the prolongations of the first ray look somewhat 
like feelers. These prolongations are much larger proportionally 
to the size of the fin in young fish than in adults. Moreover in 
fish up to a year old, the ventral fins are whitish and more 
noticeable than the orange yellow fins of the old fish. No 
special innervation could be detected for these elongations though 
they are probably to a certain extent tactile. Their development 
in the young fish is figured on Plate XIII. The smallest 
whiting that could be taken with ventral fins was 18 mms. long. 
The fins were 1 mm. (fig. 1). They consist of a long process 
that would become the first ray, and the spine is represented by 
a pretty broad flap. Fig. 2 shows the spine and the first 2 rays 
in a fish 17°5 mms. long. The first ray has forked and the 
division next the spine has grown out into a filament. Figs. 8, 
4 and 5 show the other division growing out after the first. In 
fig. 7 the filaments are of about equal length in which condition 
they remain. Later the other rays fork four times. Fig 6 isa 
sketch of a sport in which the first ray tried to divide into four. 
Three of these divisions became elongated, but the fourth 
appeared to be undergoing atrophy. The other ventral fin in 
this specimen was normal. 


MarKINGS. 


The young of S. Bassensis are marked somewhat similarly 
to S. maculata. The markings practically disappear at about 
two years. In a whiting about 6 months’ old, the markings are 


182 ON THE COMMON WHITING OF MORETON BAY 


dark blotches—with no evident arrangement—on the upper side 
of the body. At one year (PI. XII., fig. 1) they begin to assume 
the oblique arrangement described for S. maculata ; at two years 
they have run into one another to form about eight oblique 
irregular bands running downwards and forward. By that time 
they are very indistinct, and can be shown or not according to 
environment. In no case do the markings show below the 
lateral silvery band or on the tail (cf. S. maculata, Bleeker, 
At. Ich. Ind., T. 8, Tab. 889, Fig. 5). Well-grown fish when 
just taken from the water show sometimes from 6 to 8 dark areas, 
extending about in. out from the median dorsal Jine. They 
disappear when some time out of the water. The dark colour 
is not even in the blotchings which have rather a mottled 
appearance. 

The markings on the young whiting, when seen from above 
in its natural surroundings, counterfeit very accurately the 
shadows of the ripples on the sand surface below. 


Rate or GROWTH. 


Observations on the whiting were in progress from June to 
January. Karly in June young whiting of last season’s spawn- 
ing can be taken at lengths varying from 31 to 79 mms. Aver- 
ages of sizes divided arbitrarily into two groups—those over 
50 mms. and those under—give approximately the lengths 
attained at that time by those spawned early and those late in 
the season. At 10th June averaging 40 of each group, the early 
spawned fish were 68 mms. and the later ones 40 mms. On 
24th June the average of all sizes was 70, and on 19th August 
72 mms. On 7th October, at the beginning of the spawning 
season, the average was 76 mms., or about three inches. At the 
same time the average size of a number of two-year old whiting 
was found to be 201 mms., or about eight inches. That was of 
course early in the spawning season, and the sizes of one and 
two-year old fish probably exceed slightly those given. ‘These 
two-year olds had reproductive organs of small size, but well 
advanced. They spawn in the early months of the year. It is 
very probable that fish spawned late in the season do not breed 
till the third year. 


BY JAS. R. TOSH, M.A., B. 


sc. 


LIST OF FIGURES IN THE PLATES. 


Pl. VIII, Fig. 


PX 


Pl Xt. 


Pl. XII. 


PIX: 


Pl. XIV. 


. 16-cell 
. Large cell morula 
Peomalles. 
. Blastoderm enveloping 


Mins. after extrusion. 


. Egg on extrusion 
. Germinal dise 

. Side view of 2 

. 2-cell stage 

. 4-cell 


” 


8-cell 


tee 


” 


” 


yolk 


. Embryonic streak 
. Embryo 


side view of 14 


shortly before 
hatching 


” 


. Larva 


” 
Whiting one year old. 
markings. 


Whiting about 6 weeks. 


15 mins. 
20 
30 
45 
58 ,, 

lhr. 20mins. 
lhr. 55mins. 
2hs. 40mins. 


82hrs. 
93hrs. 
12thrs. 
15$hrs. 
19hrs. 


” 


“2hrs. 
38hrs. 
48hrs. 
63hrs. 
70hrs. 

3dys. 14hrs. 
4dys. 


” 


1-4 mms 
1:6 
Pp il 
PEA 
2°2 


” 
” 
” 


” 


4dys. 16$hrs. 
5dys. 16hrs. 2°3 
6dys. 16hrs. 2°4 
Nat. size. Well grown. 


”” 


” 


Food of whiting—sand worm—Thalassema sp. 


” 


Ventral fins of whiting 


” 


Spine & 2 rays of _,, 
Spine & first ray of R 


9 ” 


» &3 rays of 
Ventral fin of 


” 


” 


” 


Adult whiting. Sillago Bassensis, 


11fin. 


sand lobster. 


183 


. long. 


2-5 mms. 


Showing 


13 mms. long. Nat. size 1 mm. 

WES) 56 ss rh 2°4 ,, 

is) 5. 5 nf 3:0 ,, 

21 ;; oF oe aoe 

2B) 6p 6g 7s Sioa, 
40 ,, . y 6:6 5; 
748) he is 6 Gills 


Length of specimen, 


184 ON THE COMMON 


WHITING OF MORETON BAY 


ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THE PLATES. 


a. anus 
bl. blastopore 

c.f. continuous fin 
ch.f choroidal fissure 
d. disc 

em. embryo 

f.b. fore brain 

ht. heart 

i. intestine 

K.v. Kuppfer’s vesicle 
m. mouth 

m.b. mid brain 


my. myomere 
no. notochord 

o.g. oil globule 

ol. olfactory 

op. optic lobe 

op.v. optic vesicle 

p- pore 

p.f. pectoral fin 

pv.m. perivitelline membrane 
s.b. sensory body 

u.v. urinary vesicle 

yk. yolk 


Prate VIII 


Proc. Roy. Soc. Q'tanpn, VoL. xvi. 


W.H.Greenfield lith 


JRTosh del 


Proc. Roy. Soc. Q'tanb, Vor. xvii 


Proc. Roy. Soc. Qanp, Vor. xv Pirate X 


J.R.Tosh del W.H.Greenfield hth 


Proc.Roy. Soc. Q'tanp, Vor. xvi. Pirate X 


JR Tosh del TH. Greenfield 


Pirate XIil 


Proc Roy. Soc. Q'tanp, Vot. xvii 


Pirate XiIll. 


Proc. Roy. Soc. Q'tanp, Vow. xvi. 


W’'H. Greenfield 


del 


J.R,.Tosh 


Tria! 


Proc. Roy. Soc. QLAND, VOL. xvtt. Prate XIV. 


t 
| 


AEE To sh a el . WA Gre enfield ihe 


+ 


fo SS A IND. 


Tae VOLUME XVIII. 


PRINTED FOR THE SOGIETY BY 
H, Pore & Co., Printers, ExizanetH Brande, BRISBANE. 
1904. 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF THE 


ROYAL SOCIETY 


OF 


eo aN Sr, A IND. 


VOLUME XYIII. 


PRINTED FOR THE SO6IETY BY 
H. Pore & Co., Printers, EnizaBeTH STREET, BRISBANE, 
1904. 


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Ropal Society of Queensland. 


Patron: 
HIS EXCELLENCY MAJOR-GENERAL SIR HERBERT C. 
CHERMSIDE, G.C.M.G., C.B. 


OFFICERS, 1904. 


President : 
JOHN CAMERON, M.L.A 


Vice-President : 
J. BROWNLIE HENDERSON, F.I.C., F.C.S. 


Hon. Treasurer: 
HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 


Hon. Secretary: 
J. F. BAILEY. 


Hon. Librarian: 
ROWLAND ILLIDGE. 


Members of Council: 

W. J. BYRAM, Cc. J. POUND. 

W. W. R. LOVE, M.B. JOHN SHIRLEY, B.Sc. 
JOHN THOMSON, M.B. 


Trustees: 


Hon. SIR AUGUSTUS C. GREGORY, K.C.M.G. 
Hon. A, NORTON, M.L.C. JOHN CAMERON, M.L.A. 


Hon. Auditor: 
A. J. TURNER, F,I.A.V. 


Hon. Lanternist: 
A, G. JACKSON, A.I.E.E. 


PROCEEDINGS 


OF THE 


Annual Meeting of Members 


HELD ON SATURDAY, 30th JANUARY, 1904. 


The Annual Meeting of the Society was held on Saturday, 
30th January. 


The President (Dr. W. W. RB. Love) occupied the chair. 


The Minutes of previous Annual Meeting were read and 
confirmed. 


The Hon. Secretary (Mr. J. F. Bailey) read the following 
report of the Council for the 1903 session : 


To tHe Mempers or THE Royat Society or QUEENSLAND. 


Your Council have pleasure in submitting their Report for 
the Year 1903. 


The usual Monthly Meetings have been held during the 
year, and a list of the Papers read is given in Appendix A. 


The attendance at the eleven Council Meetings which have 
been held during the year is given in Appendix B. 


Part 2, of volume 17, of the Proceedings, containing the 
Papers read during the 1902 Session, was published in March 
last, and distributed to Members and Institutions and Societies 
on the exchange list. 


The Council have pleasure in expressing their gratification 
at the honour of Knighthood recently conferred on the first 
President of the Society, viz., Sir A. C. Gregory, who has done 
so much for the furtherance of scientific investigations in this, 
as well as in other States of the Commonwealth. 

The good work of binding the many publications which are 
received by way of exchange has been steadily proceeded with, 
136 volumes having been bound during the past year. Mr. 
Illidge, the Hon. Librarian, is to be commended on the excel- 
lent work he is doing in connection with the Library. 


ii. REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. 


As will be seen by reference to the Treasurer’s Statement 
(Appendix C), the funds of the Society are in a satisfactory con- 
dition. 


The additions to the lantern, mention of which was made 
in last report, were received in February last, and thanks are 
due to Mr. J. W. Sutton for his valuable assistance in 
arranging their purchase during his visit to London. 


The Council regret that owing to an accident to the con- 
densers of the lantern, which could not be remedied in the 
States, the series of popular lectures, which it was proposed to 
arrange during the winter months, could not be held. 


It is with regret that the Council have to record the death 
of Mr. T. H. Owens, a member who, although not a contributor 
of papers, was a regular attendant at the meetings of the Society. 


WILTON LOVE, M.B., 
President. 
J. F. BAILEY, 


Hon. Secretary. 


8ru January, 1904. 


ill. 


REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. 


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‘SO6T TVOX 94} AO} LNAWALWYLS IWIONWNIA 


‘aNWISNAANO FO ALAHIOOS IWACN FAHL 


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iv. 


REPORT OF THK COUNCIL. 


APPENDIX A. 


List or Papars Reap Durine 1903 Szssion. 


DAPE. 


eee eae 


TITLE. 


January 17 


February 19 


March - 14 
April - 25 
May- - 30 
June - 25 


August - 2 
Sept’mb’r 19 
October 17 


Novemb’r 21 


December 12 


AUTHOR. 


Australian Wood-boring Cossi- 
dae. 


Aboriginal Magic. 

| 

Contributions to the New Guinea 
Flora. 


Experiences Among North 
Queensland Aboriginals. | 


Studies in Queensland Ichthy- | 
ology. 


Culex mucidus altenans. 


Naturalised Plants in Various 

parts of the World. 
Queensland Plants in 

Their Native Habitats. 


Some 


Colour Vision and Colour Blind- 
ness. 


Notes on Travel in New South 
Wales, 1859-60. 


From Sydney to Bathurst in 
1822, from Letters by Mrs. 
Hawkins. 


Australian Crocodiles 


Revision of the Australian Thy- 
rididae and Pyralidae. 


Ambrose Quail, F.E.S., 
and Roland Illidge. 


W. E. Roth, M.R.C.S., 
B.A., Oxon. 

F. M. Bailey, F.L.S. 

R. A. Johnstone. 


J. D. Ogilby. 


W. R. Colledge. 


| Joseph Lauterex, M.D. 


J. F. Bailey. 


John Thomson, M.B. 


Hon. A. Norton, M.L.C. 


| Communicated by Hon. 


Hon. A. Norton, M.L.C. 


J. D. Ogilby. 
A. Jefferis Turner, M.D. 


APPENDIX B. 


ATTENDANCE OF OFFICERS AT THE ELEVEN Couxci, MEETINGS 


HELD DURING 1908. 


OFFICE. 


NAME. 


President 


Vice-President 
Hon. Treasurer 
Hon. Secretary 
Hon. Librarian 


Members of Council 


W. Love, M.B. 

J. Cameron, M.L.A. .. 
Hon. A. Norton, M.L.C. 
J. F. Bailey 

R. Illidge 

W. J. Byram .. 

C.J. Pound .. 

A. G. Jackson 

J. Shirley, B. Se. 

J. Thomson, M.B. 


NUMBER 
ATTENDED. 


i=) 
Or O10 WATE OHO 


REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. Vv. 


On the motion of the Hon. A. Norton, M.L.C., seconded by 
Mr. A. J. Turner, the Report was adopted. 


The election of officers for the year 1904 then took place 
with the following result :—President, John Cameron,M.L.A, ; 
Vice President, J. Brownlie Henderson; Hon. Treasurer, 
Hon. A. Norton, M.L.C.; Hon. Secretary, J. F. Bailey ; 
Hon. Librarian, Rowland Illidge; Members of Council, W. J. 
_ Byram, W. W. R. Love, M.B., C. J. Pound, John Shirley, 
B.8e., John Thomson, M.B.; Hon. Auditor, A. J. Turner, 
F.I.A.V. 


Mr. Cameron then occupied the chair, and after thanking 
the members for electing him President, called on Dr. Love to 
read a paper on Australian Crocodiles, by J. Douglas Ogilby. 


After the paper had been read the meeting terminated. 


a 5 
7, 43 
x : HOALOY en Fe 
‘ ; tate 
i+ * £ 
' i 
Fi ’ 
Pi 
o F is . 
¥ } ’ J ‘ 
; ( 
1 
: 
. 
ue 
; 
I 
U 
rs 
Fi 
AL. 


Acacia aneura 
‘n dealbata 
A decurrens 
ny Cunninghamii 
a verniciflua .. 
vestita - 
Achy oia, grisella, Hmps. i 
Acrobasis, funerea, W1k. 
wanthomelalis, Wik 
ae agtseila,, Wik. 
Addaea 
charidotis, nN. nov. 
subtessellata, Wlk. 
Adder’s Tongue ° 
Adiantum zthiopicum 


= capillus Veneris .. 
- hispidulum 
5 formosum 


Ageratum mexicanum 
Argemone mexicana 
Aglossa 3 
cuprealis, Hb. 
pinguinalis, Mey. 
Agrimonia Eupatorium 
Agrimony  .. , 2 
Akebia lobata 
Alisma plantago 


Alligator—Chinese and N. American oy 


Alsophila Australia . 

Ambia perieresalis, Wik. 

Ampycophora te ae 
apotomella 4 
haploschema, 7. sp. 

Anaclastis .. os 
apicistrigella 

Ancylosis 
lapsalis .. 

Ancylolomia 
anticella, Wlk. .. 
chrysographella, Koll, 
Westwoodi, Zel. 

Aneilema gramineum 

Anemosa isadalis, WIk, 

Anerastidia ais 
ebenopasta, n. oa 

Anerastria .. 
biseriella, Hmps. 
enervella, Rag. 
eurysticha, n. sp. 
metallactis, Meyr. 
metamelanella, Hmps. 
minoralis, Low. 
mirabilella, Meyr. 
nitens, Butl. 
pulverulella, Hmps. 
psamathella, Meyr. 
virginella, Meyr. 
xiphomela, Low. 

Anguilla a 

Anguillaria dioica . 

Arthropodium laxum 

Arundo phragmites . 

Apistus hypselopterus, ‘Bleek . 
australis, Cuy. and Val. 
marmoratus, Cuv. and Val. 
leucoprosopos, Bleek 
multieolor, Rich. 2 
longispinus, Cuv. and Val. 
Suscovirens, Cuy. and Val. 

Aphomia complana, F, and R. 
erumpens, Lucas 
latro, Meyr. ee 
pachytera, Meyr. 
tripartitella, Meyr. 

Aquita claviferella, W1k. 

Araxes admigratella, Wik. 

Archaeopteryx 35 

‘Ardea novehollandia 


Argyria : 
amoenalis, Snel. 
argyraspis, Meyr. 
plumbeolinealis 
Arhodia pyrrhata, W1k. 
Arnatula : 
tornotis. a 
tympanophora, 7 n. 8D, fe 
Asclepias curassavica : 
Asopia caustica, Meyr. 
ducalis, Meyr. 
decoloralis, Led... 
Aspidontus sp. 
Asplenium nidus 
is faleatum 
trichomanes 
Aspidium aculeatum 
Astrapometis saburalis, Meyr. 
Aurana actiosella. W1k. 
Autarotis a 
euryala, Meyr. 
Avicennia officinalis 
Baccaurea papuana, Batl .. 
ie Te Muell. Arg. 
Bailey, F.M., F.L.8 
Contributions to New Guinea 
Flora So wis 
Balaenifrons 
haematographa, Hmps. 
phoenicozona, Hmps.. 
Balanomis .. ais 
encyclia, Meyr. .. 
Balanotis arctandalis, Lue. 
didymalis, Meyr. 
Ferrugimea, Luc. 
hercophora, Meyr. 
mnesibrya, Meyr. 
recurvalis, Meyr. 
Barbarea vulgaris 
Begonia fulvo-villosa, War bg. 
Bertula thyrisalis, ee 
Beta vulgaris 
Bignoniacee 
Black Nightshade 
Bladderworts 
Blinks 
Blue Crane 
Bottle tree 
Bulbine bulbosa : 
Botys fugalis, F. and R. 
histricalis, Wlk. 
Bostra disticha, n. ae 
Bracken : 
Brook-weed .. 
Brambus leucocinctus, Wik. 
Bullrout, The 5 
Bur-weed - 
Cacozelia cholica, Meyr. 
costigeralis, Meyr. 
Ceesalpinia nuga, Ait. 
Caiman e 
latirostris 
niger 
sclerops 
trigonatus 
Calamatropha dielota, Meyr. . 
Callionyma sarcodes, Meyr. 
Camphor laurels 2 
Canthelea aegnalis, Meyr. 
Canadian Fleabane .. 
Canuza 
acmias, Meur. : 
euspilella, Wilk... 
Cardamyla carinentalis, Wik. 
didymalis, Wilk. AA 
hercophora 
Cardamine hirsuta .. 
Carex acuta 


vii- 


viii. 
Carex Buxbaumi .. 50 
paniculata .. 36 
Cassia Bartonii, Bail. 0 
mimosoides .. ae 
Cassytha filiformis .. An 
Castor-oil plant 40 oo 


Casuarina quadrivalvis 
Cateremma metallopa, Low. .- 
Cataclysta ochracealis, WIk. .. 
Catamola funerea, Meyr. -- 
capnopsis, Meyr. C 
elassota, Meyr. .. a 
inuncta, Luc... ot 
thyridalis, Meyr. 
axanthomelalis, Meyr. 
Centipeda orbicularis 
Cedar, Mexican aye ag 
Centropseustis astrapora, Meyr. 
Centropogon, Gunth. Be 
australis, White ate 
australis, Gunth. 
echinatus, Mackay 
Suscovirens 6 
indicus, Day a0 
leucoprosopon, Gunth. 
marmoratus, Gunth. 
nitens, Date. ee a 
troschelii, Stein. 
robustus, Gunth. 
Ceratophyllum 
Ceroprepes 0 
almella, Meyr. -- 
mniaropis, 2. 6p. 
sebasmia, Meyyr. .. 
Chelonia c 
Chilo ia 
lativittalis 53 
leptogrammellus, Meyr. 
oxyprora bie 
par amatellus, Meyr. 
schistellus, Meyr. 
strigatellus, Hips. 
torrentellus ae 5, 
Cinnamomum Oliveri, Bail. 
Cissampelos Pereira 5 
Cocklebur 5 
Cladium mariscus 
Club mosses 
Clubrush .- ate 
Cnidoglanis macrocephalus 
Cocoanut palm 
Cocos nucifera 
5,  plamosa 
Commelyna cyanea 


Colledge, W. B., Notes on the Scot’s 
Gray Mosquito (2 plates) 


Colocasia antiquorum 
Colour-sight 
(2 plates) 
Conobathra as 
automorpha, Aleyr. 
Coreyra ue oe 
asthenitis, 1. sp. oe 
Cordyline australis oe 
Cork-tree, Australian ne 
Cotachena .. as ave 
aluensis, Butl. 
histricalis, Hmps. 
Cottus australis. White 
Crambus- .-- ae 
anticellus, Hmps. ete 
apicistrigellus, Meyr. =.-- 
ArgyTONewrUs, Zel. 
aurantiacus, Mey. a 
awrosus, E'. & R. oe 
bifractellus, Wik. 30 
bivitellus, Meyr. 
concinnellus, Wik. 
cuneiferellus, W1k. hte 
delatalis, Wik. -- Zs 
dianiphus, Low. 3K 
dielotus ts 


and Colour-blindness 


INDEX— Continued. 


Page 
56 dimidiellus, Meyr. 
56 enneagrammos, Meyr. 
1 grammellus, Zel. 
57 hapaliscus, Zel. 
. 57 hoplitellus, Meyr. 
60 impletellus, Wik. 
d 61 invalidellus, Meyr. 
129 lativittalis, W1k. 
169 lkeptogrammellus 
197 malacellus, Dup. 
Pelee medioradiellus, Hmps. 
192 wicrophaeellus, Wik. 
198 milvellus, Meya. 
195 opulentellus, Zel. 
195 parramattellus 
57 perlatatlis, W1k. 
63 photoleucus, Low. 
187 pleniferellus, Wik. 
10 ramostricllus, W1k. 
13 recurvellus, W1k. 
13 relatalis, Wik. .. 
8 trivittatus, Zel. .. 
8 torrentellus, Meyr. 
8 Crocodile-bird fe 
23 + African 
8 a Johnsows 
8 “5 Long-snouted 
19 a Short-snouted 


19 Crocodiles, Australian 
55 Crocodilus 


151 americanus, Laur. 
135 cataphractus 

151 intermedius 

135 johnston ae 

202 mississipiensis .. 

166 palustris ‘ 

167 niloticus 

163 porosus 

167 Crocydopora 

163 einigerella 


165 Crowfoot ..- 
167 Crunoplhila, Meyr. 
167 Cryptoblabes 


55 adoceta, X. Sp. 

57 ferrealis, Low. 

60 oenobarella 

56 plagioleuca, n. sp- 


57 Cryptomeria japonica 


é 56 Culex hispidosus”.- Se. 
13 »  Mucidus Alternans, West. 
57 Culladia_.. Ee 5 
57 admigratella, Hmps. = 
62 Curena sie 5 - 
57 externalis, WIk... “ 

Curicta a6 55 5 

67 oppositalis, Wik. 


65 Cymoriza minima, Butl. 
Cyperus flavescens .. 


29 rotundus 
153 Cypress, Japanese 
153 Daia a 


155 Dailkon < 
155 Danae Erippus 
61 Datura stramonium 


62 Dendrobium Montedeakinense, Bail. 


187 Dermatochelys coriacea, 
187 Devil’s Fig : 
187 Dianella ceerulea 

13 Diospyros virginiana 
162 Diplopseustis 


162 minima, Meyr. 

164 perieresalis - 
173 prophetica, Meyr. 
172 Diptychophora : 
172 alypophanes, 7. sp. 
173 dialeuca, n. sp. -- 
172 dilatella aa 
163 kuphitineta, Lucas 
163 microxantha, Meyr. 
163 molydocrossa, 2. Sp. 
164 ochracealis 5 
162 stenura, 2. 8p. -- 


ohsnan & 


torva, Lucas ai : 
Doddiana callizona, Turn, .. 
Doloéssa.. Ac 55 
castanella are oe 
hilaropis, Meyr. .. HS 
Dosara lapsalis, W1k. Se 
Doththa mesenterialis, Wk. .. 
Drepanodes seitaria, WIk. ss 
Drosera a5 
Drymiarcha exanthes, Meyr. 
Duboisia myoporoides a 
Duckweeds .. Se ae 
Ecbletodes .. we 
psephenias, n. P. 
Egg Plant 
Eichhornia crassipes 
Eldana 6 30 
leucostictalis, Low. ae 
Emydosauria en Sc 
Endotricha .. 
aethopa, Meyr. 
aglaopa, Meyr. 
chionocosma 
compsopa, Meyr. 
crobulus, Lue. 
desmotona, Low. 
dispergens, Lue... 
docilis os 
heliopa, Meyr. 
hemicausta, n. sp. 
ignealis, Gn. 
lobibasalis, Hmps. ae 
mesenterialis, Hmps. .. 
obscura,, Butl. : 
psammitis, n. sp. i 
pulchrinalis, Gn. sie 
puncticostalis, Meyr. 
pyrosalis, Gn. .. oc 
pyrocaustalis, Low. 
stilbealis 26 
ustalis, Suel. oe 
Ephestia .. ie 
cahiritella, Zel. - ue O 
elutella, Hb. c ae 
ficulella, Barrett xe 
Eosaurus acadicus On 
Epicrocis ae ate 
aegnalis aC is 
amaura .. a0 
digrammella .. 
festivella, Zel. 
macrota, Meyr, .. 
mesembrina, Meyr. 
oppositalis 
orthozona c 
saturatella, Mab. 
seminigra, Lucas 
sublignalis 2 
Epinephelides leai, Ogilby 
Epipaschia .. ee 
atribasalis Ab BL 
costigeralis 
crypserythra, n. sp. 
funerea 
habitalis 
lithochlora, Low. 56 
nauplialis ot ae 
picta Ap < 
pyrastis 
rubridisealis 
saburalis 
seminivea 
Eragrostis pilosa 
Erigeron canadense 
Evening Primrose 
Eriobotrya japonica 
Erythroxylon coca .. on 
Eromene dilatella, Meyr. a0 
bifractella, Meyr. oc 
longipalpella, Meyr. Ac 
praematurella, Meyr. 


INDEX —Continued. 


Erotomanes, Meyr. 


Ernophthora ere : : 


phoenicias, Meyr. 2 


Etiella on oe 55 


behrii, Zel, 


chrysoporella, Meyr. a 
holozona, Low. .. on 


melanella, H™mps. 


sincerella, Meyr. , ; 


walsinghamella, Rag. 
zinckenella, Treit. 


Eucallionyma a 
mediozonalis, Hmpe. 
sarcodes 6 AS 

Eucalyptus globulus ats 

Eucainpyla . c ae 
etheiella _ 

Bucarphia ensiferella, ‘Meyr. . 
if neotomella, Meyr... : 

FF vulgatella, Meyr... 

Eugen‘a Bartonii, Bail. 

Euphrasia Ne 

Ewhythma.. 
latifasciella 

Euzophera . 


holophragma, Meyr. is 
leucarma, Meyy.. 5 
microdoxa, Meyr. 
pyrrhoptera, Low. 
subarcuella 
thermochroa 
Euzopherodes 
albicans, Rag. 
allocrossa, Low.. 
leptocosma, 2. . 
Eye-bright c 
Feather palm 
Fern tree 
Ficus religiosa 
Fortescue, Lhe. 
Fossifrontia 
leuconeurella, Hmmps. 
French Marigold 
Frogbits 5 
Grammitis rutefolia _ 
Gnaphalium luteo-album 
Gyrtona sordidella, Wik. 
Galingale 
Galleria 
mellonella, Hmps. 
Galleristhenia 
mellonidiella; Hmps. 
Garra D0 o8 Ac 
Gauna ait cis ate 
aegalis .. 
subferralis, WIk.. 
Geitonoplesium eymosum 
Gleichenia flagellaris, Spreng. 
Glossina habitalis, Gn. ae 
Glyceria fluitans 
Hairy Bitter Cress ae 
Hednota 5 ake oa 
asterias, Meyyr. - 
crypsichroa, Low. 
gelastis, Meyr. 
toxotis, Meya. 
xiplophaea, Meyr. 
Heleocharis acicularis 
Herculia Sc 
acerasta oe 
albidalis ot 
decoloralis 
Heterobella fe 
triglochis, n.sp... 
Heterographis 
molybdophora, Low. 
proleuca, Low. 
Heteromicta 
latro .. 
nigricostella, Hmps. 


x. INDEX—Continued 


Page 
ochraceella, ae ait eee LoS 
pachytera 5 Ss Jeg) Ly 
poliostola, 7. sp. 3 eh a as) 
tripartitella ae a eae TOLD 

Hibiscus trionum .. afd Fe 57 
Homoeosoma ia BALD Oi 5) 
albicostalis, Luc. SS ye vib ts! 
delineata, Lucas es re EO 
distichella, Meyr. oe ae ie 
farinaria, n. sp... oe nel 2G 
fornacella, Meyr. ef fe 125 
melanosticta, Low. ae Br stl |5) 
stenopis, n. sp. .. AL ae) L2G 
vagella, Zel. es A same 2S 
Hoplopterus spinosus, Linn. .. neo ee 
Horned Trefoil ae ae a 56 
Hornworts are 55 
Hydrocampa cre tacea, Butl. we L8G 
Hydrocharis a8 or, ate 55 
Hypargyria 30 -. 185 
metalliferella, Rag. a we EBS 
Hypantidium ; Sc ao) 1 28 
apodectum, n. sp. Sh ue ABS 
leucarmum ay Ps ve 6129 
metallops Ac xe Sel) 
microdoscum .. ets ett 29 
pamphaes, n. sp. t6 ao) ele 
quadriguttellum ae vor kag 
seminivale, n. sp. as cea Leg 
sericarium, Scott ste a.) wae 
Hypnos - oe 15 
Hypochalchia tritalis, “Wik... to EBT 
Hypogryphia te Soo ube 
rufifasciella, Hmps. bts ee yi ¥1 
Hypolamprus, Himps. ae ae NO: 
costisecriptus .. a2 ree yu! 
hemicyclus 5 Boe | gLttil 
marzginepunctalis, Leech wae SG) 
pallescens, Amps. oe Salto 
Hypolophota se aie -» 155 
amydrastis, ”. sp. aie Ae) alate 
oddes, n. sp. 4 pereeLGo) 
Hypophana h, mosema, Meyr. oo 6s 
Hypoplectrodes armatus, Waite. oe 26 
Hypsidia ee Bae iss! 
erythropsalis, Roths. Je Hey RLOG 
Hypsopygia : ve -- 188 
mauritialis. Bav. <8 ne Ss 
Hypsotropha aS ae ot eS 
acidnias, 7. sp. ae Ace yt? 
euryzonella, Meyr. 5: So LLG 
icasmopis, 2. sp. 5 eee ts 
papuasella, Rag. aie <a) otG 
pleurosticha, n. sp. on fais 115 
rhodosticha, n. sp. a Soe 
zophopleura, n. sp. sia Soe MAG. 
Ichneumon .. 205 
Ichthyology of Queensland, Studies in 7 
Tlex paraguayense .. ae oe 64 
Impatiens japonica . - 68 
Af latiflora, Linn. aA 1 

Ink Berry .. se Se 58 
Isoetes +. a +. 55 
Jersey Cud-w veed ate ae 57 
Jocara ther ROD Ne Low. .. a 190 
Lacertilia .. axe soft Oe 
Lady’s thistle Ae ce 243 58 
Lamoria_ .. oA eve ae) BESS 
adaptella 32 an 159 
pachylepidella, Hmps ete are ELOG 
rufivena, Wik. .. 4 sat SDS 
Lantana camara .. ak ak 59 
Lasiocera antclia, Meyr. Rie Uo Wor 
canilinea, Meyr.. Sie, 4, eR 
Lasiosticha microcosma, Low. 181 


Lauterer, Joseph, M.D., Naturalised 
and Acclimatised plants in 
various parts of the world .. 55 


Leersia hexandra .. as we 56 
Lemna = ee ote 55 
Liocranium, ‘Ogilby . On An 23 

prepositum, Ogilby a5 25 


Mucialla rufiv.na,Hmps. .. 
Mulga a 
Myelois actiosella, Meyr. aa 
cosmiella, Meyr.. 5 
flaveotincta, Lue. - 
oenoharella, Meyr. - 
subarcuella, Meyr. Z 
Myriophyllum a ~ 
Myrmidonistis a - 
hoplora, Meyr. .. : 

Naias 
Naturalised and Acclimatised plants 
in various parts of the world 


Litchi , wa 
Lotus cor niculatus . oe ai 
Lobivanellus lobatus ie He 
miles 2. Ae 3% 
Lophothoracia 5 oa oe 
omphalella, Hmps. 4 a 
Loquat se we 
Luzula campestris .. a 5 
Lycopodium Selago ta i 
os clavatum ne ie 
Lythrum salicaria 2 . 
Macalla a =o a6 a 
aeruginosa en a3 ae 
aleuropa ae aa os 
cholica .. ste a a 
concisella oe ae 
demotis ae A aa 
ebenina, 7. sp. .. ae Bs 
ferruginea se ae ae 
marmorea oo 4h a 
nubilalis ab s 
prasina.. A ae 
recurvalis Z ai 7 
thyridalis a7 ae - 
xanthomelalis .. ar ie 
zophera, ey = aia A 
Magiria imparella, Zel. + ris 
Maiden Hair aA 
Malvastrum tricuspidatum .. 6 ana 
Mangrove, White se as de 
Matnlia concisella, Wik. oe ie 
Meliphora .. - oa 
grisella, Fab. .. oe 
Melissoblaptes ac ate ae 
aegidia, Meyr. e ; 
agramma, Low... Py o- 
baryptera, Low. =F - 
hilaropis, Meyr. te 
latro, Zel. 3 ae ie 
parasiticus, Lue. S a 
sordidella, Meyr. as 5 
Mesolia - ate 
scythrastis, n. sp. aie ate 
Mesopempta, Meyr. .. is s 
Messatis sabirwealis, Wlk.  . Pe 
Metrosideros Regelii, F.v. a a 
Meyrickiella Ne é ae 
homosema ae as a 
Mimosa pudica ab ee ae 
Mimulus maculatus. . : a 
Montia rivularis ate 


Neargyria .. ale 3H Pe 
argyraspis Ny on 
Neosebastes scorpenoides, Guich. 
of australis, Waite 


robustus, Waite 

Nephelium litechi .. ‘ 
Nephopteryx 5 
atrisquamella, Hmps. E 
cinigerella, W1k... = 

erypserythra, Low. = 
daspytera, Low... . 
epicrypha, n. sp. . 
ereboscopa, Low. = 
euraphella, Meyr. 5 


we ier, 


flaveotincta at Ae aa 
hades, Low, 5 oi = 
infusella, Meyr... <= a 
leucophaeella, Zel. as oe 


INDEX—Continued. 


Page 
melanostyla, Meyr. He . 145 
metasarca, Low, 146 
minutella, Rag. .. 145 
monospila, Low... 135 
opimella, Mayr. .. 131 
orthozona, Low... 148 
pallicostalis, Wlk. 149 
patulalis, Wik. .. 147 
paurosema 0 145 
petalocosma, Meyr. 145 
placoxantha .. 145 
stenopterella, Meyr. 128 
syntaractis 145 
thermalopha, Low. 139 
Nest Fern 60 
New Guinea Flora, “Contributions to i 
Norton, Hon: A., M.L.C., Notes on 
Travel, 1859- 60 ae 81 
Norton, Hon. A,. MLC. From Syd- 
ney to Bathurst in 1822 ee 96 
Notes on Travel, By Hon. ie Pi 
M.L.C. 81 
Notesthes, Ogilby 17 
robusta, eeeey 17 
Numbfishes .. 15 
Nut-grass 58 
‘Nyctereutica ac 192 
asbolopis, 7. sp. 192 
capnopis 192 
elassota 192 
Nymphea .. 55 
Ocrasa albidalis, Wik. 189 
Odontarthria : 135 
almella 135 
sebasmia 135 
subfuscella, Hmps. ; 135 
Oedematophaga aegalis, Meyr. 185 
Oedomatophora cacaalis Lune. 185 
Oenogenes fugalis, Mey7. 187 
Ginothera biennis .. 58 
Ogilby, J. D., Australian Crocodiles. 201 
9p ‘Studies i in pemyolouy of 
Queensland 7 
Oidium albicans 66 
Old Maid 59 
Oligochroa amaura, Low. 148 
Ophidia 202 
Ophioglossum vulgatum 57 
Orthaga 56 199 
mnesibrya : 199 
orchidivora, n. sp. 199 
polialis, Hmps. .. 198 
rubridiscalis, Hmps. 198 
Osteolamus .. : 204 
Oxalis corniculata 58 
Oxydisia .. 152 
hyperythrella, Hmps. 153 
Pacoria albifimbiralis, W1k. 181 
Panicum crus-galli .. 60 
Papua 121 
latilimbella, Rag. 121 
leucocincta 121 
longiramella, Hmps. 121 
Paracentropogon leucoprosopon 23 
longispinus ‘ 22 
nudus 23 
Paraguay tea 64 
Paralipsa c 156 
stenopepla, n. sD. 156 
Parramatta . 121 
ensiferella 121 
Pempelia_ . 181 
adaptella, ‘WIk. 159 
apotomella, Meyr. 117 
antelia .. 131 
caliginosella, Meyr. 146 
canilinea 131 
digrammella, Meyr. 148 
hemichlaena, Meyr. 131 
microcosma me 1381 
oculiferella, Meyr. G6 147 
opimella ie 131 


rufitinctella, Meyr. 
strigiferella, Meyr. - 
Pentaroge marmorata, Woods 
Pepper tree are 
Persicoptera 
chionozyga, Low. 
pulchrinalis 
Persimmon, North American 
Phaseolus truxillensis 
Phalaena mellonelia, Lin. 
pinguinalis, Linn. 
Pharambara costiscripta, W arr. 
+n aurata, Butl. 
on reticulata, Butl... 
Phtyolacca octandra 
Phycita 5 
actiosella 
adiacritis, n. sp... 
atimeta,n sp. .. 
ceroprepiella, Hmps. 
chryserythra 
corethropus, 7. sp. 
deltophora, Low. 
ereboscopa 
eulepidella, Hmps. 
flavitinctella, Rag. 
hades 
hemicallista, Low. 
imparella ae 
leucomilta, Low, 
mixoleuca, 7. sp. 
piratis .. - 
pyrrhoptera 
recondita, 1. sp... 
thermolopha 
trachystola, n. as 
Pigweed 
Pilularia 
Pilworts A 
Pierardia, Roxb... 
Platanus occidentalis 
Platycerium alcicorne 
grande AC 
Platyte 8 latifascie lla, Hmps. . 
plumbeolinealis, Hmps. 
Plodia 
interpunctella, Hb. 
Plover, Svur winged . 
Portulacca oleracea. . 3 
Pokeweed 
Polyocha BA 
achrosta, n. sp. .. 
leucocincta, Hmps. 
rhabdota , 
Polygonum nrdzopives 
Pondweeds .. 
Potamogeton 
Potentilla anserina 


Poujadia ve 
callirrhoda, 7. sp. _ 
erodella, Rag. 
holochra, n. sp. 
opificella, Rag. 


Prunella vulgaris 
Psilotum triquetrum 
Pteris aquilina 
» longifolia 
Ptochostola 
microphaeella é 
Ptychosperma Cunninghami_ 
Purple Salicaria 
Pyralide and Thyridide. A prelimi- 
nary revision of Australian .. 


Pyralis - ate 
aegnusalis, WIk. 
aequsalis, W1k. 
albiferalis, W1k. 
caustica ae 
contentalis, W1k. 
costigeralis, Wik. a0 
deeoratalis, W1k. Re 


xii. 


docilisalis, W1k... 
duealis, W1k. 
farinalis, Linn. .. 
gerontesalis, W1k. 
manihotalis, Gn. a0 
myrsusalis, Wk. 
nauplialis, W1k, 
polygraphalis, Wik. 
saburalis, W1k- 
atilbealis, Wlk. 
Quilworts aS 
Ranunculus 
Red-head or 
Reed Maee .. 3c ae 
Rhisina puncticostalis, Wik. .. 
Rhodaria robina, Butl. 
Rhodoneura 30 
albiferalis 
aurata .. 
centiginosa 
crypsiria ie 
cypholoma, ”, 8p. 
dissimulans 
furcifera 
glareola 
hyalospila 
irias 
myrsalis 
polygraphalis 
pyrrhata 
scitaria 
semitessellata 
theorina $ 


Rhodophea actiosella, Hmps. : 


Rhynchocephalia 
Ricinus communis .. 
Rubus ulmifolius 
Salma recurvalis, Wik. 
Salebria eucometis, Mryr. 
placoxantha, Low. 
squamicornis, Butl. 
Saluria ae ch 
neotomella, Rag. 
rho 10essa Ae 
Samolus valerandi .. 
Scenmedra .. a 
decoratalis, Meyr. 
externalis, Meyr. 
Scenidiopis . . 
chionozyga 
Schinus molle 
Scirpus lacustris 
nf maritimus .. 
Sclerobia .. ra 
cnephaeella, Meyr. 
neotomella 
tritalis .. ; 


Scopula gavisalis, Wik. fe ae 
Scots Gray Mosquito, Notes on (2 


INDEX— Continued. 


plates) oe 4 67 
Scorpena panda - : 9 
a spinosa, Gmelin 22 
Sedenia SY 167 
achroa, Low. 168 
cervalis, Gn. 167 
erythrura, Low... 168 
polydesma, Low. 168 
rupalis, Gn. 168 
xeroscopa, Low. 168 
Self-heal : 57 
Sempronia .. 153 
stygella, Rag. 153 
Sensitive plant oe 58 
Serranus armatus, Cast. 26 
Sesamum orientale.. 65 
Shield Fern .. 50 AA 57 
Siculodes bydreuretis, Meyr. .. 113 
5 crypsiria, Meyr. 113 
glareola, FB. & R 112 

“5 hemicycla, Meyr. 111 

; hyalospila, Low. 112 


Siculodes rhythmica, Meyr. .. 
theorina, Meyr. 
Sida cordifolia 
», rhombifolia 
», spinosa a 
Silybum marianum .. 
Silver Wheel ae 
Solanum melongena 
Spatulipalpia ee 
flabellifera, Hmps. 
pallidicostalis 
sophronica, 7. #p. 
Spectratrota 2s 
fimbrialis, Warr. 
Speedwell .. ae Ae 
Spermatophthora mesactella, Meyr. 
Sphenodon punctatus ae 
Spilodes rhodocryptalis, Wik 
Spinach, New Zealand 7 
Spleen-root ; 
Squamata 
Stag-horn fern aa 
Sterculia rupestris .. 
Stericta a Be 
aeruginosa, uc. 
aleuropa, Low. .. 
atrvbasalis, Warr. 
eallizona, Low. .. 
chionopa, Low. 
demotis, Meyr. 
leucodesma, Low. 
marmorea, Warr. 
nubilalis, Hmps. 
picta, Warr. 
prasina, Warr. .. 
pyrastis, Meyr. .. 
recurvalis, Meyr. 
tornotis, Meyr. 
seminivea, Warr. 
Sthenobela se 
niphostibes, n. sp. 
Stingarees ss 
Striglina centiginosa, Lue. 
trias, Meyr. 
pyrrhata, Meyr. 
stramentaria, Luc. 
Sundew ON oe oa 
Surattha bathrotricha, Low. 
brunnea, Hmps. An 
Sydney to Bathurst in 1822, From 
Symphonistis oe 
monospila 
Syntonarcha 
iriastis, Meyr. 
vulnerata, Lue. .. 
Tagetes glandulifera 
“ patula 
Talis no 
acontophora 
asterias 
aurantiaca 
bathrotricha 
bifractella 2 
bivittella, Don. .. 
brunnea 
crypsichroa 
cyclosema, Low. 
eremenopa, Low. - 
enchias, Meyr. ae 
eucraspeda, n. sp. 
diacentra, Meyr. 
gelastis ! 
gramella 2 
haplotypa, 7. sp. a= 
hoplitella re Ss 
impletella 
invalidella 
isodeta, 7. sp. 
longipalpella 
macrogona, Low. 
macroura, Low. 


. 


INDEX— Continued. 


Page 
megalarcha ale! 
mesochra, Low, 174 
milvella 172 
opulentella A 173 
or thotypa, n. sp. 176 
panselenella < 173 
panteucha 171 
pedionoma 173 
perlatalis 178 
pleniferella 172 
recurvella 172 
relatalis 173 
stenipteralis Low. 174 
subfumalis, ee 174 
termia “ 71 
toxotis 174 
xiphosema, n. sp. 175 
xylophea 174 

Taro 65 
Taxodium mucronatum = - 63 
Tetragonia expansa 58 
Thagora castanella, Hmps. 157 
Thinasotia ... 166 
acontophora, Meyr. 173 
argyrocles, Meyr. 173 
megalarcha, Meyr. 174 
panselenella, Meyr. 178 
panteucha, Meyr, 171 
pediononoma, Meyr. 173 
pentadactyla, Zel. 166 
termia, Meyr. 171 


Thomson, John, M. By Colour. sight 


and Colour-blindness (2 ue) 29 
Thorn apple 59 
Thylacoptila paur osema, Meyr. 145 
Thyridide and Pyralide, A Prelim- 

inary Revision of Australian 109 
Thysanotus Patersoni 3 61 
Tirathaba ... 158 

acrocausta, Meyr. 159 
complana 159 
hepialivora, Hmps. 159 
rufivena “a 158 
Titanoceros... 191 
cataxantha, Meyr. 191 
poliochyta, n. sp. 191 
thermoptera 191 
Tephris 144 
glaucobasis. Low. 144 
Tetralopha piratis, Meyr. : “197-153 
Tetraroge longispinus, var. nuda z 23 
rubripinnis, Sch. 9 
Tomistoma ... AA 204 
Trachinus 21 


Trachonitis oppositalis, W1k.... 
sublignalis, W1k. & 
Trichophysetis 
cretacea, Butl. ... 
crocoplaga, Low. 
fulvifusalis, Low. 
neophyla, Meyr. ... 
Tricomia auroralis, W1k. 
Trieropis nesias, Meyr. 
Trissonca br 
capnoéssa, n. sp. 
epiterpes, n. sp.. 
ianthemis 
mesactella bee 
molybdophora ... 
proleuca ee 
Tuatera F 
Turtle, Leathery 30 
Turner, A. J., M. D., A preliminary 
revision of Australian Thy- 
rididze and Eyelid Z 
Twig-rush ... : 
Tylochares .. 
cosmiella 
ianthemis, Meyr. 
sceptucha, n. sp. 
Typha angustifolia .. 
Ubida : 
holomochla, Ne sp. 
ramostriella 
Unadilla 
albicostalis 
distichella 
Urolophus 
Utricularia 
Vallisneria 
Veronica 
Vinca rosea 
Vinicia 
eucometis 
macrota 
gypsopa, Meyr. 
Vitessa P AUCGE Hers: Hmps. 
Waterlilies ... : 
Watermilfoils 
Water Pepper 
Water Plantain 
Wellingtonia 
Winter Cress 
Woodrush 
Xanthium strumarium 
Yellow Wood-Sorrell... 
Zornia diphylla 


haere Uae A OnE aT 


CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NEW GUINEA FLORA, 


By F. MANSON BAILEY, F.LS. 


CotontaL Boranist. 


( Read before the Ttoyal Society of Queensland, 14th March, 1908.) 


Tor some years past I have had the good fortune of including 
Capt. F. R, Barton, private secretary to the Lieut.-Governor of 
New Guinea, among my correspondents. This gentleman is a 
careful observer and a great lover of plants, and through him 
some new and several interesting plants have come to our 
knowledge, as well as information regarding the uses to which 
the plants are applied by the aboriginal inhabitants of that land. 

In a small packet of specimens recently to hand from Capt. 
Barton there are several new species, and thinking that a short 
paper on the subject might be of interest to the members of the 
Royal Society, I beg to offer the same to you. 


OrpeR GERANIACER. 
TRIBE BALSAMINER. 
Impatiens, Riv. ex Linn. syst. ed. 1. 
1. latifolia, Linn. Sp. Pl. 9387. 
Hab. St. Joseph River, Flowers very brilliant vermillion. 
Capt. F. R. Barton. 


Orper Lecuminos®.—Sus-orDER C#SALPINIER. 
TRIBE EUCESALPINIEE. 
Cesalpinia, Linn. Sp. Pl. 380. 
C. nuga, Ait. DC. Prod. ii, 481. 
Hab. Mekeo. Capt. I’. R. Barton. 
TRIBE CASSIER. 
Cassia, Tourne. ex. Linn. syst. ed. 1, 
C. Bartonii, Bail, Ql. Agri. Journ. ix, 410. 


Hab. Mambare River. Sir Francis Winter. (Capt. Barton.) 
A 


2 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NEW GUINEA FLORA 


Orprer Myrrace®. 
TRIBE LEPTOSPERMEA. 


Metrosideros, Banks, ex. Gertn. Fruct. 1, 170, t. 34. 

M. Regelii, F. v. M. Trans. Roy. Soc., Vict. 

Hab. Yulu District, at an elevation of about 2,000 ft.; found 
climbing up the forest trees. Capt. F. R. Barton. First found 
by Sir. Wm. McGregor, on Mt. Musgrave, at an altitude between 
7,000 and 8,000 ft. 

TRIBE MYRTE. 

Eugenia, Mich. ex. Linn. Syst. ed. 1. 

E. Bartonit, Bail. 

A small tree; branchlets slender angular-compressed, reddish. 
Leaves narrow-lanceolate with often long acuminate points, 1 to 
nearly din. long, 3 to 6 lines broad, dark-green above, pale 
beneath, the erecto-patent lateral nerves somewhat distant, joining 
an intramarginal one rather distant from the edec. Petioles 
about 2 to 3 lines long, somewhat thickened and semiterete. 
Inflorescence racemose about 10in. long, drooping, peduncle 
flattened, about 4 line broad, rather longer than the rhachis or 
flower-bearing portion. Bracts minute lanceolate several at the 
base, a pair of setose ones about three-parts up the peduncle, 
those under the terminal flowers larger than the rest and 
lanceolate; bracteoles minute setose, flowers pink, distant, 
solitary or in pairs one of which is frequently nearly sessile. 
Calyx-tube turbinate with numerous fine ribs, pink to a light- 
brown, spreading and recurved at the top, lobes 4, short, broader 
than high. Petals rotund-ovate, 3 lines long, 24 lines broad, 
concave, spreading and separately deciduous, stamens about lin. 
long, numerous and fine, pink. Anthers often lunate. Style 
somewhat longer than the filaments, ovules numerous. Fruit not 
seen. 

Hab. On banks of mountain streams, British N. Guinea. 
Capt. F. R. Barton. 

OrpER BEGONIACE. 

Begonia, Tourn., Linn. Gen. ed. il. 516. 

B. fulvo-villosa, Warbg. Engl. Bot. Jahr. 386. 

Hab. Central districts of British New Guinea at an elevation 
of about 2,000 feet. Captain F. R. Barton. 

OrpvER BIGNONIACE2. 

In the packet were a few seeds of some plant of this order, 
put without further specimens it would only be conjecture to 
say to what plant they belong. 


BY F. MANSON BAILEY, F.L.S. 3 


Nucleus brown, pyriform 8 lines long, surrounded by a 
border of same colour and consistence, 2 lines broad, which is 
also surrounded by broad transparent wings, the whole giving a 
horizontal didmeter of from 5 to 6 ins. 

Hab. None given. Capt. F. R. Barton. 


OrpEerR HuPHoRBIACES. 
TRIBE PHYLLANTHEA, 


Baccaurea, Lour. Flora. Cochinch. ii.661. Pierardia, Rom). 

B. papuana, Bail. 

A tree bearing its flowers and fruit upon the trunk and thick 
branches ; branchlets, leaves, and inflorescences all when young 
more or less puberulent. Branchlets terete, striate. Leaves 
rather rough, clustered at the ends of the branchlets, broadly 
ovate and bluntly acuminate, 4 to Tin. long, 24 to 34in. broad, 
tapering towards the base; margins slightly wavy and minutely 
glandularly toothed. Petioles slender, 1 to 14in. long, and more 
or less thickened at each end. Male flowers not seen. Female 
flowers in racemes on the trunks ot trees, 6 to 8 in. long on 
peduncles from 1 to 2 in. long. Bracts sharply lanceolate, about 
1 line. Flowers crowded, pedicellate, yellow, the segments or 
sepals coriaceous, about 3 lines long, imbricate. Ovary silky-hairy, 
hairs nearly silvery, stigmas 3, sessile, 2-lobed, lobes broad and 
fimbriate. Fruit (not seen quite ripe) slightly exceeding 1 in. 
in diameter, 3-celled, 2 seeds in each cell, the seeds covered by 
a thick, fleshy, acid arillode. 

Hab. Mekeo District, British New Guinea. Capt. F. R. 
Barton, who states that both the flowers and fruit are eaten 
and much appreciated by the natives, and that the flowers 
which resemble in colour the Laburnum, have a fine fragrance 
and nut-like flavour; and that the fruit resembles the English 
gooseberry with a squeeze of lime added. 

Dr. Hollrung records B. dasystachya Muell. Arg. for German 
New Guinea, but that Javanese-species, judging from Miguel’s 
description in the Batavia Flora, differs in my opinion considera- 
ably from B. papuana. Our knowledge of this genus is even at 
the present very limited on account of the imperfect material 
botanists have had to work upon. Sir J. D. Hooker found this 
to be the case when working up the genus for the Flora of 
British India. It does seem remarkable that a genus named and 
described about 112 years ago by J. de Loureiro in his Flora of 
Cochin China ii. 661, and of which several of the species are 
known to furnish the aborigines of the various countries in 


4 CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NEW GUINEA FLORA 


which they are found with some of the necessaries of life, should 
not be better known. One of the great stumbling blocks in the 
botanists’ way has been, and even is now, the natural arrange- 
ment of the inflorescence; some species being known to bear 
separate male and female inflorescences on different parts of 
the same plants, while in other species they are borne on separate 
plants, and collectors it would seem have not in all cases attached 
this very necessary information to their specimens. With regard 
to the economic features of the genus, some writers state that 
the leaves are used in dyeing. Of several species the fruit 
is known to be eaten; the part used being the fleshy arillode, 
which differs from the true arillus in being a fleshy coating of 
the seed, not a separate body arising from the placenta, as in 
the true arillus. It will thus be understood that while the 
fleshy substance on the seed of Buccaurea is refreshing and 
agreeable to the palate, it cannot in point of usefulness rank 
with the true arillus, which can be readily removed and brought 
into domestic use, like the mace, litchi, and the arils of several 
of our indigenous trees which are at times collected and utilised 


for making conserves. 
OrpvER ORcHIDES. 


Dendrobium, Sw. in Nov. Act. Soc. sc. Upsal vi. 82. 

Sect. Distichophylla. 

D. Montedeakinense, Bail. 

Stems flattened, scarcely exceeding 1 line broad; the 
specimen received was a terminal end about 10 ins. long, bearing 
a few leaves and 2 flowers. Leaves distichous, erecto-patent, 
1 to 2 ins. long, almost linear, slightly over 2 lines broad, the 
apex shortly and unequally 2-lobed, midrib and longitudinal 
nerves prominent. Flowers solitary, leaf-opposed, distant from 
the apex of the stem. Pedicel stout and somewhat curved, 
about 2 lines long. Bracts one large and almost hyaline, the 
others minute. Dorsal-sepal narrow-ovate, about 24 lines long, 
the lateral ones about as long, from a very broad base, all 
prominently veined. Petals long as sepals, but much narrower. 
Labellum articulated to the lower elongation of the column, 
rather thick and longer than the sepals, the middle lobe with 
a rounded blunt end, the lateral lobes very small. Column 
short, disk with prominent parallel nerves, Anther-lid muricate 
outside, pollen-masses only one seen, probably two closely 
adhering together, the other two being abortive in the flower 
examined. 

Hab. Mount Deakin. Captain F. R. Barton. 


BY F. MANSON BAILEY, F.L.S. 5 


Orver Fiicrs. 


Gleichenia, Sm., Mem. de L’Acad. Turin, v. 418. 

G. flagellaris, Spreng. Aboriginal name, ‘“Garra.”’ (Barton.) 

A narrow segmented form, less glaucous beneath than in 
the ordinary forms of this species. 

Hab. Climbing trees on the hills to the height of 20 ft. 
or more. 

From the glossy-brown outer rind of the smooth stems the 
natives obtain material which they plait into armlets and 
bracelets. Capt. F. R. Barton. 


i 


& yi iit } 


F 71 (£2 a vie 


sit} 


iv 


| Ta} 


TSA HORKAIR 70 aie 


avecutl “ 


apni 
(Polen ae 
‘ weit Pe te 7 
5 . u\ ere 
aoa ee hal 


STUDIES IN THE ICHTHYOLOGY OF 
QUEENSLAND. 


By J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 


(Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 25th April, 1903). 


i. 
ScorPHNIDs (1). 

Among the various products of our bays and estuaries, which 
are apt to make their presence known to the unwary in an 
unequivocal manner, few are more widely and invidiously known 
than the small fishes to which the names ‘ Bullrout”’ and 
‘Fortescue’ have been given, and which have been grouped 
together under the common name Centropogon by Dr. Ginther 
and other authors. ‘The genus belongs to the scorpenoid division 
of the sub-order Loricati, or ‘‘ mail-cheeked fishes,’ the name 
being derived from the exceptional development of the third bone 
of the infraorbital ring, which is in most of the genera produced 
backwards to the preopercular bone, and so forms an admirable 
protective covering to the sides of the head. 

The family Scorpenide (Scorpion-Fishes) is abundantly 
represented throughout all temperate and tropical seas. It is 
provisionally divisible into three groups—Sebastinw, Apistine, 
and Scorpenine.* 

Among other peculiarities the second group is characterised 
by a strong spinous prolongation of the preorbital bone ; 
this is more or less erectile at will, and can be, and indeed is 


*This is not to be considered a natural division, as the whole series, 
outside of the obviously sebastine and scorpenine forms, requires careful 
revision, some of those which would here be placed among the Apistine 
being, like Notesthes, closely related to the Sebastine, others, like Liocranium 
as closely to the Scorpenine, while some may have trigloid affinities. 


8 STUDIES IN THE ICHTHYOLOGY OF QUEENSLAND 


very readily employed as a weapon of offence. Some of the 
species are also credited with the possession of toxic qualities, 
and there can be no question as to the acuteness of the pain 
caused by a stab from either the Bullrout or the Fortescue, 
which belong to this group. 


In 1860 four species were referred to his genus Centropogon 
by Giinther. These four species may for convenience be tabulated 
as follows :— 


Second anal spine longer than the third—Species, australis. 

Second and third anal spines subequal—Species, robustus. 

Second anal spine appreciably shorter than the third— 
Species, /uscovirens, lewcoprosopon. 

To the first of these three sections the generic name 
Centropogon rightfully belongs, the type being Cottus australis, 
White. Centropogon robustus, Giinther, the sole representative 
of the second section, is generically separable, and it is here pro- 
posed to establish a genus, Notesthes, for its accommodation. 
The third section will be dealt with further on in connection 
with an undescribed Queensland fish, which is perhaps allied to 
its representatives though widely separated from the typical 
Centropogon. 

Subsequent to the publication of the second volume of the 
British Museum Catalogue of Fishes, four more species were 
added to Centropogon, namely :— 

C. marmoratus, Ginther, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., (3) xi. 1863, 

p. 136, Moreton Bay. 

C. indicus, Day, Fish. India, p. 155, pl. xxxvili. fig. 2, 1875, 

Madras. 

C. echinatus, Macleay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. Wales, v. 1881, 

p. 486, Endeavour River. 

C. nitens, De Vis, Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. Wales, ix. 1884, p. 

459, Coast of Queensland. 


According to my views only the first of these is a true 
Centropogon, while of the three remaining species no two are 
congeneric. To add to these complications Castelnau in 
1872 confused Centropogon australis, White, with the fish 
described by Guichenot (Mem. Soc. Imp. Sc. Nat. Cherbourg, 
xiii. 1868, p. 89) as Neosebastes scorpenoides, and in the 
following year, when seeking to correct his mistake, made 
matters worse by rejecting the genus Neosebastes and relegating 
Guichenot’s fish to the genus Centropogon, with which it has not 
the slightest affinity. (v. Proc. Zodl. & Accl. Soc. Vict., ii. 


BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 9 


18738, p. 40). In this he was unfortunately followed by Macleay, 
who, however, it is but just to say, expressed his doubt as to the 
propriety of the course followed by Castelnau. Here, so far as 
this fish is concerned, the matter might have been left for the 
present, but that Jordan and Evermann (Fish. N. & Mid. 
Amer., p. 1839) place Neosebastes among the synonyms of 
Scorpena. The type of Neosebastes is the South Australian 
Scorpena panda, a species which, like N, scorpenoides, | have 
never seen. Judging, however, from McCoy’s fine figure and 
description of the latter species (Prodr. Zodl. Vict., dec. xx, pl. 
198) I am inclined to recognise Guichenot’s genus, the com- 
plete lepidosis of the upper surface of the head and the absence 
of simple pectoral rays being inimical to its inclusion in 
Scorpana. 

Reverting to the list given above it will readily be seen that 
the fish described by Day as Centropogon indicus differs greatly 
from that genus as here restricted. Among the characters 
which separate it may be noted—the difference in the contour 
of the head and nape, the longer lower jaw, the absence of an 
enlarged outer series of teeth in the preimaxillaries, the decreased 
number of dorsal spines, the elongation of the third anal spine 
beyond the second, the pauciradiate pectorals, and the obso- 
lescence of one of the ventral rays. 

As I cannot find any other genus in which this combination 
of characters exists I propose to separate the Indian fish from 
Centropogon under the name Data, in honor of Surgeon-General 
Francis Day, author of the Fishes of India and other works.* 

As to the species to which Macleay gave the name Cen- 
tropogon echinatus, the author’s description is of little value in 
assisting us to determine its affinities. We learn, however, that 
the lateral line is provided with filaments, and that the second 
anal spine is greatly enlarged, while the neglect to mention a 
preorbital spine suggests the absence of that character. Taken 
together these point to a scorpzenine rather than an apistine fish, 
and I am inclined to believe tbat Macleay’s species will event- 
ually prove to belong to that group. 

Finally, with regard to the remaining species, Centropogon 
nitens, the generic identification is greatly hampered by the 
omission on the author’s part of any reference as to the extent 
of the dorsal lepidosis, and to the comparative length of the 


*Tetraroge rubripinnis (Schlegel, Faun. Japon., Poiss, p. 49, pl. xxii. 
fig. 2) may be a Daia. 


10 STUDIES IN THE ICHTHYOLOGY OF QUEENSLAND 


anal spines. Insufficient though the description of this fine 
species is, two characters nevertheless are noteworthy as serving 
to separate it from the genus to which it has been referred, 
namely, the remarkable sculpture of the scales, each of which 
is said to be traversed by three strie, which converge from the 
base towards the margin, thus directly reversing the ordinary 
procedure; and, secondly, the small size of the eye, which is at 
variance with the normal character of these fishes. 


In addition to the eight species enumerated above as having 
been referred by various authors to Centropogon, Giinther in- 
cludes as doubtful (Catal. Fish., ii. p. 128, note) Apistus hypsel- 
opterus, Bleeker (Banda, i. 1851, p. 238). No species is figured 
under this specific name in the Atlas Ichthyologique. 


With these general remarks I will now proceed to give 
detailed generic and specific descriptions of three of our Queens- 
land dagger-cheeked scorpenids, together with such data as to 
their habits, food, etc., as I have been able to gather. I have 
failed to obtain any information respecting their breeding 
habits. 


CENTROPOGON. 
Centropogon, Giinther, Catal. Fish, ii. p. 128, 1860 (australis). 


Body elliptical, compressed. Scales small, adherent, ctenoid, 
smooth, arranged in regular series. Lateral line complete, not 
extending on the caudal fin; the tubes simple, slightly bent 
upwards posteriorly, separated from one another by a single 
scale; each tube corresponding in length to about two body 
scales and raised conspicuously above them. Head rather large, 
entirely naked, without dermal appendages, its upper profile 
parabolic; snout short and broad, with slightly convex profile ; 
preorbital pore inconspicuous ; a series of large open pores along 
each side of the lower jaw inside the dentary bone, thence 
bending upwards along the border of the preopercle. Nape not 
continuous with the upper profile of the head, rising abruptly 
above the posterior border of the orbit, naked, as also is @ 
cuneiform band, widest anteriorly, on each side of the spinous 
dorsal fin, a narrow band behind the head, and the pectoral, 
thoracic, and ventral areas. Mouth with rather small, slightly 
oblique cleft; jaws equal; premaxillaries protractile, pro- 
duced in a skinny lobe which conceals the lower border of the 
maxillary, the upper and hinder borders of which are exposed. 
Upper jaw with a continuous band of villiform teeth and an 


BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. ala 


outer row of strong, well separated, curved, conical teeth ; villi- 
form teeth on the vomer and palatines; mandibular teeth similar 
to those of the premaxillaries, but with the enlarged series 
reduced to two or three on each side of the symphysis. Nostrils 
large, patent, well separated, tubular, the anterior with a tentacle. 
Hye large, anteromedian, sublateral, high ; interorbital region 
deeply concave without tentacles. Cranial ridges moderately 
developed, mostly terminating in a spine; coracoid process with a 
short stout spine; no suprascapular spine. Preorbital with two 
exposed spines, the first short, stout, triangular, directed down- 
wards ; the second long, strong, acute, and dagger-shaped, reach- 
ing far beyond the maxillary, and capable of a wide lateral exten 
sion, the membranous attachment to the cheek being narrow. 
Preopercle with five spines, the upper much the longest and ex- 
posed ; interopercles widely separated ; opercle smooth, with a well 
developed lobe and two divergent ridges, each of which ends in a 
small spine; the surface smooth. Gills four, a small cleft behind 
the fourth ; even branchiostegals ; gill-rakers reduced to a few 
spinulose tubercles. Upper pharyngeal bones circular and 
separate ; lower, subpyriform and contiguous ; both armed with 
strong conical teeth. Soft dorsal and anal fins without basal scaly 
sheath ; last ray in each divided to the base. Dorsal fin originat- 
ing but little behind the eye, elevated in front, emarginate 
behind, with xvi (xv) 8 or 9 (10) rays, the spines of moderate 
strength and pungent; spinous portion of fin about thrice as 
long as the soft portion; interspinous membrane deeply cleft 
anteriorly; last ray broadly attached to the peduncle. Anal 
fin with iii 5 or 6 rays ; spines strong, the second longer and 
stronger than the third; last ray nearly free. Caudal 
fin rounded. Pectoral fins well developed, rounded, sym- 
metrical, undivided; each with 14 rays, the middle the 
longest ; none of the lower rays simple. Ventral fins moderate, 
approximate, inserted behind the base of the pectorals, each 
withid rays; the spine strong and rather long; second 
soft ray longest, the last widely attached to the wall of the 
abdomen. Posterior processes of premaxillaries in contact with 
the frontal bone; frontal bone with a pair of conspicuous ridges 
which are approximate mesially but are divergent in front and 
behind, and are separated from the tympanic ridges by a shallow 
transverse preoccipital groove, the anterior border of which is 
formed by the nearly transverse coronal ridges ; no supraoccipita 
crest for the support of the anterior dorsal spine; suborbital 


12 STUDIES IN THE ICHTHYOLOGY OF QUEENSLAND 


stay with a single smooth ridge. Vertebre 11+16 = 27. 
(kévtpov, & Spine ; twywyv, beard.) ) 


East Coast of Australia. Two species. 


As will be seen by a comparison of the generic diagnosis 
given by Macleay (copied for the most part from Gunther) and 
the above definition, the former is far from satisfactory, sins of 
commission and omission being both plentiful and palpable. 
For instance, we find that according to it both the head and the 
body are scaly, whereas the former is wholly, the latter partly 
naked ; the genus, as regards this character, being intermediate 
between Notesthes and Pentaroge. We are also told that there is 
no preoccipital groove and no cleft behind the fourth gill. A 
very superficial examination reveals the presence of both groove 
and cleft, and both these characters, as also the nakedness of the 
head, were fully recognised by Giinther in his description of 
Centropogon marmoratus, and the necessary corrections made. 
Giinther, however, has failed to notice the conspicuously en- 
larged outer series of premaxillary teeth, which at a glance 
differentiates this genus from Notesthes. 


That no reference whatever is made to the extensive naked 
area on the back and nape, although it forms an important 
generic character, is the more remarkable because Cuvier and 
Valenciennes commence their notice of the species with the 
following paragraph, which plainly shows the importance which 
they attach to the character:—‘‘A la suite de ces apistes a 
longues pectorales et 4 rayons libres, viendra un poisson du 
Port Jackson, qui a pour caractére particulier la nudité de la 
partie antérieure et supérieure de son dos, ot les écailles 
manquent, comme & sa téte, tandis que le reste de son corps en 
a de petites, apres, sembables 4 peu prés a celles de notre Scor- 
pena porcus.”’ Again, in the description of the fish the following 
passage occurs :—‘‘ L’espace nu de son dos est circonscrit de 
chaque cété par une ligne qui part du haut de l’orifice branchial, 
et monte obliquement en se rapprochant de la dorsale jusqu’ a 
son dernier rayon épineux.’’ These authors also give the 
formula of the dorsal fin in the typical species correctly, a fact 
to which it is necessary to draw special attention, because 
Giinther has given as normal a formula founded on accidental 
variation, and this has been copied without comment or verifica- 
tion by Macleay. 


BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 13 


CENTROPOGON AUSTRALIS. 


Cottus australis, White, Voy. N. 8. Wales, p. 266, c. fig., 1790, 
Port Jackson. 

Apistus australis, Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., iv. p. 
398, 1829. 

Centropogon australis, Giinther, Catal. Fish., ii. p. 128, 1860, and 
Zool. Challenger, i, Shore Fishes p. 28, 1880; Macleay, 
Proc. Linn. Soc. N. S. Wales, v. 1881, p. 486; Ogilby, 
Catal. Fish. N.S. Wales, p. 22, 1886. 

The Fortescue,* Woods, Fish. and Fisher. N.S. Wales, p. 49, 1882. 

Neosebastes australis, Waite, Thetis, p. 108, pl. xxi, 1899. 


FortESCUE. 


Ds x09.) VAS ib." Se. 7/80/41) Tae 1:28. 


Depth of body greatest below the fifth dorsal spine, where 
it is 23 to 3 in the total length; length of head 2+ to 8! in 
the same. Snout as long as or a little shorter than the diameter 
of the eye, which is 24 to 8 in the length of the head. Nasal 
tentacle fan-shaped and fimbriated. Width of interorbital 
region 54 to 53 in the head. Maxillary extending to or a little 
beyond the vertical from the anterior border of the pupil, its 
length 38 in the head, the width of its distal extremity about one 
third of the diameter of theeye. Preocular, supraocular, postoc- 
ular, tympanic, parietal, and nuchal spines well developed. Inter- 
orbital ridgeswell developed, smooth ; temporal region with three 
short spinose ridges. Posterior preorbital spine extending back- 
wards to or slightly beyond the vertical from the hinder margin of 
ithe eye, its length from the base of the anterior spine 2 to 24 in 


* Both Tenison Woods and Macleay have erroneously applied this 
name to Pentaroge marmorata. This is obviously wrong, that species being 
so rare in Port Jackson that during a residence there of fifteen years I have 
not seen a single local example. Apistus marmoratus, Cuv. & Val. (Hist. 
Nat. Poiss., iv. p. 416) was founded on a fish said to have been obtained by 
Péron at Timor. Since that time it has not been found there, nor was it 
known to Bleeker from any of the isiands of the Indo-Malayan Archipelago ; 
but it, or an allied species, is commonly found on the Tasmanian and Vic- 
torian coasts. If the fact be taken into consideration that the members of 
the Cuvierian genus Apistus are, as a rule, greatly restricted in their distri- 
bution, it will at once appear to be unlikely that the same species should 
inhabit the warm waters of tropical Timor and the cold seas of temperate 
Tasmania. Perhaps two distinct species are confonnded under the one 
name. Péron was fortunate in his Timor collections; he got Cnidoglanis 
macrocephalus (— megastoma) there, but no one has found it since ! 


14 STUDIES IN THE ICHTHYOLOGY OF QUEENSLAND 


that of the head. Upper preopercular spine not so long as the 
second preorbital spine. Gill-rakers 4 + 9, all tubercular. 
Third dorsal spine the highest, conspicuously higher than the 
second or fourth, 1} to 14 in the leneth of the head, and thrice 
the height of the first spine: last spine higher than the penulti- 
mate; outer border of soft dorsal rounded, the highest ray about 
equaling the fifth spine. Anal fin originating below the four- 
teenth or fifteenth dorsal spine, its second spine as high as the 
seventh or eighth dorsal spine, half or a little more than half 
the length of the head, and as high as or a little lower than the 
soft portion of the fin, the outer border of which is subtruncate. 
Caudal fin with 10 branched rays, the middle pair the longest, 
32 to 34 in the total length. Pectoral fin not reaching beyond 
the ventral,* its length thrice the width of its base and equal to 
the length of the head. Ventral fin rounded, 11 to 14 in the 
head, extending to or slightly beyond the vent, its spine as long 
as the second anal spine. Pale yellowish or ochraceous brown, 
with six irregular tranverse dark chestnut-brown or black bands; 
the first through the eyes; the second below the anterior dorsal 
spines and often reduced to an oblong blotch ; the third below the 
sixth to ninth spines and ceasing beneath the appressed pectoral 
fin; the fourth below the anterior soft rays, sometimes ceasing 
at or near the lateral line, sometimes extending to or even upon 
the anal fin ; both this and the preceding band may extend well 
on the dorsal fin, and both have a tendency to lateral expansion 
about the middle of the side ; the fifth across the base, the sixth 
across the middle of the caudal fin ; a dusky spot is also usually 
present below the eleventh to thirteenth dorsal spines; outer 
border of spinous dorsal usually more or less dusky ; soft portion 
with an oblique dark med‘an bar, which is often reduced to a. 
spot near its anterior border; pectoral fins with or without a 
dark median transverse band and sometimes with narrow 
parallel bars also; a dark blotch absent or present at the base 
of the ventral fins. Examples obtained from muddy ground 
have the body more or less clouded so that the ground color: 
scarcely appears, and in these the basal half of the pectorals and 
the venirals are dark. (Lat. australist, southern. ) 


*Tn no ease, out of scores of examples which have passed through my 
hands, have I found the pectoral fins to reach back to the ‘origin of 
the anal,” as stated by Gtinther and Macleay. 

+The specific name “ australis.” is frequently but erroneously used to 
signify ‘“‘ Australian”; it is almost needless to say that it does nothing 
of the kind, its sole meaning being neither more nor less than ‘“‘ southern ” : 


BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 11s 


Occasionally, but very rarely, one of the dorsal spines is 
absent, in which case an additional soft ray will almost inva- 
riably be found; while it also happens that not unfrequently 
the short first spine appears to be wanting, having been acciden- 
tally broken off and the scar healed over. A specimen in the 
collection of the Australian Museum, Sydney, has a pungent 
spine growing outwards and rather downwards from the base of 
the eighth dorsal spine, of which it is fully half the length ; it 
protrudes well beyond the skin, and was probably caused by an 
injury when the fish was young. 


Length to 185 millimeters. (Head and body 106, caudal 
fin 29.) 


East coast of Australia. I have taken specimens at various 
points of the coast between Port Hacking to the south and 
Moreton Bay to the north ; it frequents sandy bays in preference 
to muddy estuaries, and, unlike its relative, the ‘‘ Bullrout,”’ 
never ascends rivers into fresh water. It is very common in’ 
Port Jackson, every haul of the trawl net bringing up several ; 
it is, therefore, not out of place to warn the inexperienced 
against rashly plunging the hand into the gatherings of the net 
from that port, since, between stingarees (Urolophus), numb- 
fishes (Hypnos), and fortescues, he would probably receive an 
unpleasant reminder of the evils of curiosity. In the 
autumn of 1886, I had the pleasure of accompanying Mr. Tryon 
and the late Captain Fison, on a three days’ trip down Moreton 
Bay, during which we did some dredging and caught several 
specimens, which differed in no particular from the common 
Port Jackson species. It appears, therefore, to be tolerably 
plentiful in suitable localities along our foreshore, and possibly 
extends its range considerably further northwards. The same 
may be confidently asserted as to the extension of its range in 
a south-easterly direction ; but it has not as yet been recognised 
by the naturalists of Tasmania or Victoria. 


** australis”? can only, therefore, be correctly employed when the species so 
designated is an inhabitant of a more southerly district than any of its 
congeners at that time known. By this rule White was correct in so naming 
his fish, no Cottus from further south being known. (The Cottide proper, 
as now limited, are inhabitants of periarctic regions only). If an author 
intends to convey the meaning that the product which he is describing is an 
autochthon of the Australian Region he should employ such a word as 
* qustralie” or “ australianus”’ and the like; but the vagueness, of even 
these terms, owing to the size of the territory comprehended, suggests the 
advisability of omitting their employment altogether. 


16 STUDIES IN THE ICHTHYOLOGY OF QUEENSLAND 


Type apparently non-existent. 


White’s description and figure are so bad that it is impos- 
sible to state with absoute certainty that the subject of this 
article is the actual species of which he obtained specimens ; 
their identity, therefore, rests solely on the negative evidence 
that there is no other Port Jackson fish at all resembling his 
Species in pattern of coloration. But this is of less importance 
owing to the accurate description given in the “ Histoire 
Naturelle des Poissons,” the authors of which retain White’s 
specific name for specimens collected by Quoy and Gaimard in 
Port Jackson, during Freycinet’s voyage in the ‘‘ Uranie,” 
associating our species, however, with the Indian genus, 
Apistus, from which it may be distinguished by the absence of a 
free pectoral ray, etc. 


The Fortescue feeds on small crustaceans, mollusks, and 
the like, and is useless even as food for other fishes, the painful 
character of the wounds inflicted by the preorbital and preoper- 
cular spines acting as a sufficient deterrent to its would-be 
consumer. Its small size renders it valueless as human food. 


The above description is drawn up from an examination of 
numerous specimens collected in the Sydney district. 

If a comparison be instituted between the above description 
of Centropogon australis and Giinther’s detailed description of 
CO. marmoratus, the differences will be found to be very slight. 
Putting aside the rather unreliable character of coloration, they 
amount to the (1) lowness of the anterior dorsal spines, the 
third to sixth being subequal and longest, only half the length 
of the head and lower than the soft portion of the fin; and (2) 
the larger scales, which are arranged in 68 transverse series 
above the lateral line. Though a native of Moreton Bay this 
species is equally unknown to Mr. De Vis as to myself.* 

I cannot close my account of this genus without a few 
remarks on the figure of Neosebastes australis, published in 
‘“‘Memoir iv.”’ of tbe Australian Museum _publications.+ 
Waite’s figures of fishes are ordinarily so accurate in every 


*Since writing the above I have received through the kindness of Mr. 
J. R. Tosh two examples of Centropogon from Southport, which belong 
to the low-finned form. They differ, however, so much inter se that I think 
it advisable to withhold the description until such time as I can obtain a 
fuller series of specimens. 


+ “‘ Scientific Results of the Trawling Expedition of H.M.C.S. ‘ Thetis , 
off the coast of New South Wales.” Sydney, 1899. 


BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 17 


detail, that I cannot help suspecting that the fish there figared 
differs specifically from the common “ fortescue ”’ of our litoral 
fauna. This would account for its capture in what Waite rightly 
regards as the ‘“‘ unusual depth of 16-19 fathoms.” 

The following are the more prominent variant characters 
between the specimen (from Port Jackson) now before me, and 
Waite’s figure :— 

In the typical Centropogen australis (White) + the body is 
less robust, the greatest depth in numerous examples being 23 
in length against 2 in the figure ; the jaws are equal ; the nasal 
tentacle is larger, and fimbriated, the opercular ridges are more 
conspicuous and widely divergent; the third dorsal spine is 
much higher, never less than ? of the head and thrice the height 
of the first spine ; the soft part of the dorsal fin has nine rays, 
and the last is almost wholly united by membrane to the back ; 
the second anal spine is much longer and stronger than the 
third, as high as the 7th or 8th dorsal spine, and half the 
length of the head; the pectorals are rounded and symmetrical, 
the middle (7th and 8th) rays the longest, not reaching beyond 
the ventral and not surpassing the head in length; the ventral 
is much larger, rounded, reaching beyond the vent, + of the 
length of the head, its spine as long as the second anal spine. 


NoTESTHES, gen. nov. 


Body elliptical, compressed. Scales small, adherent, 
ctenoid, concentrically striated, arranged in regular series. 
Lateral line complete, not extending on the caudal fin; the 
tubes simple and straight, forming together a continuous band, 
each tube corresponding in length to from two to three body 
scales, and raised conspicuously above them. Head large, 
entirely naked, without dermal appendages, its upper profile 
obliquely linear; snout short and broad, with somewhat 
declivous profile ; preorbital pore large ; a series of similar pores 
along each half of the lower jaw inside the dentary bone ; a pore 
at the root of each preopercular spine. Nape slightly rounded, 
nearly continuous with the head, naked, as also is the thorax. 
Mouth with rather large oblique cleft; lower jaw the longer; 
premaxillaries protractile, produced in a skinny lobe, which 


| White’s specimens would certainly belong to the form ‘better known 
in shallow water cruising around the piles of piers and jetties ” (Waite), 
rather than to a deeper sea form which he had no means of capturing in its 
natural haunts. 
B 


18 STUDIES IN THE ICHTHYOLOGY OF QUEENSLAND 


conceals the lower border of the rather large maxillary, the 
upper and hinder borders of which are exposed. Jaws with 
interrupted bands of villiform teeth; no outer series of enlarged 
teeth; villiform teeth on the vomer and palatines.  Nostrils 
large, patent, well separated, tubular, without tentacles. Hye 
rather large, anterior, sublateral, high; interorbital region 
concave, without tentacles. Cranial ridges rather feeble, with 
or without a small terminal spine; coracoid process with a 
strong spine; no suprascapular spine. Preorbital with three 
spines, the tips of which are exposed ; the anterior short, stout, 
somewhat curved, directed downwards and backwards; the 
posterior longer, strong, acute, and thorn-like, not nearly 
reaching to the end of the maxillary, and but moderately 
erectile, the membranous attachment to the base of the 
suborbital stay being wide ; the median spine when present rises 
above the base of the last and is directed upwards. Preopercle 
with five spines, the upper the longest, with exposed tip ; 
interopercles in contact ; subopercle with a small spine; opercles 
with a well developed lobe and two divergent ridges, each of 
which terminates in a strong spine, the surface conspicuously 
carinated above the lower ridge. Gills four, a cleft behind the 
fourth; seven branchiostegals; gill-rakers short and _ stout, 
mostly tubercular. Upper pharyngeal bones elongate-pyriform, 
separate, forming a continuous patch ; lower approximate, each 
patch split up into four distinct sections, which are as distant 
from one another as they are from those of the opposite side ; 
all are armed with short stout conical teeth. Soft dorsal and 
anal fins with a partially scaly base, the last ray in each divided 
to the base. Dorsal fin originating above the upper preopercular 
spine, evenly rounded in front, emarginate behind, with xv 9 or 
10 rays, the spines of moderate strength and pungent; spinous 
portion of fin more than thrice as long as the soft ; interspinous 
membrane moderately cleft anteriorly ; last ray partially attached 
to the peduncle. Anal fin with iii 5 rays; spines strong, the 
third as long as or a little longer than the second; last ray 
nearly free. Caudal fin rounded. Pectoral fins well developed, 
rounded, symmetrical, undivided ; each with 12 rays, the middle 
the longest ; none of the lower rays simple. Ventral fins moder- 
ate, approximate, inserted behind the base of the pectorals ; each 
with i 5 rays, the spine strong and rather long ; second soft ray 
longest, the last narrowly attached to the wall of the abdomen. 
Air bladder large and simple, with thick walls. Pyloric cca in 


BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 19 


small numbers. Stomach simple, its entire length interiorly 
with coarse longitudinal ridges. Intestines folded. Posterior 
processes of premaxillaries extending to the frontal bone; 
frontal bone with a pair of conspicuous ridges, which are ap- 
proximate mesially but divergent in front and behind and are 
separated from the tympanic ridges by a wide interspace; no 
preoccipital groove ; coronal ridges vestigial, slightly convergent 
forwards ; no supraoccipital nor nuchal crest tor the support of 
the anterior dorsal spine, which is deeply grooved in front; 
suborbital stay with several smooth, branched carine  Vertebre 
10+ 17=27. (vérov, back; éo6ys, clothing: in allusion to 
the complete lepidosis of the dorsal region). 

Rivers and estuaries of Kastern Australia. Monotypic. 

The genus Notesthes outwardly resembles Neosebastes, but 
the latter differs from it in having the entire head covered with 
scales, in the absence of an elongate defensive preorbital spine, 
in the reduced number of dorsal spines, in the large twenty-two- 
rayed pectoral, etc. It is, however, probable that while Notesthes 
has distinct sebastine affinities those of the Neosebastes incline to 
the scorpzenine. 


NovrEsSTtHES ROBUSTA. 


Centropogon robustus, Ginther, Catal. Fish., ii. p. 128, 1860, 
Australian Seas; Krefft, Proc. Zodl. Soc., 1864, p. 182; 
Gunther, Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., (8) xx. 1867, p. 60 
and Zool. Challenger, i, Shore Fishes p. 88, 1880; Mac- 
leay, Proc. Linn. Soc. N. 8S. Wales, v. 1881, p. 486 and 
viii. 1883, p. 203 ; Ogilby, Catal. Fish. N. S. Wales, p. 22, 
1886 and EKdib. Fish. & Crust. N. S. Wales, p. 67, 1893. 

Centropogon troschelii, Steindachner, Sitzb. Ak. Wien, liii. i. 
1866, p. 440, pl. iv. fig. 1, Port Jackson. 

The Bullrout, Woods, Fish. & Fisher. N. 8. Wales, pp. 48, 
108, 1882. 

Neosebastes robustus, Waite, Thetis, p. 102, 1899. 


Buirovt. 


Depth of body greatest below the third dorsal spine, where 
it is 23 to 24 in the total length; length of head 24 to 22 in the 
same. Snout as long as or a little longer than the diameter of 
the eye, which is 34 to 44 in the length of the head. Width of 
interorbital region 54 to 6 in the head. Maxillary extending to 
or not quite to the vertical from the posterior border of the pupil, 
its length 2} to 24 in the head, the width of its distal extremity 


20 STUDIES IN THE ICHTHYOLOGY OF QUEENSLAND 


14 to 14 in the diameter of the eye. Nasal, preocular, supra- 
ocular, postocular, parietal, and nuchal ridges each terminating 
in @ spine; an exoccipital spine ; interorbital ridges moderately 
developed, smooth ; temporal region with three short spinose 
ridges. Posterior preorbital spine not extending beyond the 
vertical from the front margin of the pupil, its length from the 
base of the anterior spine 64 to 62 in that of the head. Upper 
preopercular spine as long as or longer than the last preorbital 
spine. Gill-rakers 4 + 12, a few near the hinge claviform, the 
rest tubercular. Length of soft portion of dorsal fin 31 to 
34 in that of the spinous; fourth spine the highest, not much 
higher than the third or fifth, 2 to 24 in the length of the head, 
and 2? to 22 times the height of the first spine; last spine as 
high as or a little higher than the penultimate; outer border of 
soft dorsal rounded, the highest rays equal to or rather less than 
the fourth spine. Anal fin originating below the thirteenth or 
fourteenth dorsal spine, its third spine as high as the seventh or 
eighth dorsal spine, 24+ to 3 in the length of the head, and con- 
siderably lower than the soft portion of the fin, the outer border 
of which is angularly rounded. Caudal fin with 10 branched 
rays, the middle pair the longest, 32 to 4 in the total length. 
Pectoral fin not reaching to the vent, its length thrice or a little 
more than thrice the width of its base, and 11 to 14in the 
length of the head. Ventral fin pointed, a little shorter than 
the pectoral, extending to or nearly to the anal, its spine as long 
as the third anal spine. Pyloric ceca 4. Brown, irregularly 
marbled with black, which sometimes takes the form of broad 
transverse bands, and frequently with bright yellow spots and 
blotches; a chestnut spot often present on the occiput; fins 
mottled with blue-gray or yellow and black ; a large black blotch 
usually present in front of the midéle of the spinous dorsal. 
(robusta, stout.) 


Length to 280 millimeters. (Head and body 222, caudal 
fin 58.) 

Kast coast of Australia. Its presence has been recorded 
throughout the district lying between Shoalhaven to the south 
and the Mary River to the north, but as it is everywhere com- 
mon within those limits a more perfect acquaintance with our 
estuarine fauna will probably extend its range considerably. 
It has not, however, been included in either the Victorian or the 
Tasmanian lists. 

Type in the South Kensington Museum. 


BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 21 


The Bullrout is essentially a brack- and fresh-water fish, 
never voluntarily visiting the open sea, though occasional 
examples may be caught near the mouths of the larger rivers, 
having been carried out by floods, as in the case of the specimen 
trawled in Shoalhaven Bight by the ‘‘ Thetis.”’ It is common 
in brackish creeks and lagunes, living at the bottom among 
weeds and mud, and readily taking any bait of a suitable size, 
such as a shrimp or small worm. It is also plentiful in most if 
not all of our eastern rivers, far up towards their sources 
having successfully ascended rapids and surmounted other 
obstacles in their passage. I have not, however, succeeded in 
obtaining any proof of its breeding under such conditions. The 
young, of less than an inch long, are frequently swept ashore 
among the debris of a seine, and are beautiful little objects ; 
indeed I do not agree with Woods in his remark that * like all 
the scorpion fish it is very ugly”’; many species of Sebastes, 
Scorpena, etc., are strikingly handsome fishes with beautifully 
blended colors, while a freshly caught Bullrout, from fairly clean 
ground and clear water, with its black and gold marmoration 
contrasting strongly with the deep rich brown of the ground 
color, is as pretty a fish as one is likely to get in a day’s angling. 
The flesh is excellent. 

With regard to the pain caused by a stab from the cephalic 
spines of this and the preceding fish, I see no reason to change 
my previously expressed opinion on the subject. The account 
given by Woods, and which has unfortunately been reprinted in 
a recent number of a Brisbane newspaper,t is very highly colored. 

Nor do Waite’s remarks help matters much. The canalic- 
ulation of the spines is no proof of poisonous properties in their 
possessor, and is common to many fishes which are above 
reproach ; so also as to the mucosity. Therefore, I submit that 
‘the truth”’ of their ‘‘ possessing poisonous properties ”’ is not 
‘‘apparent,’’ whatever appearance of truth there may be in Mr. 
Waite’s assertion. Only a few days ago I received a brace of 
cuts, right and left, from the mandibular teeth of a wretched 
little sabre-toothed blenny (Aspidontus, sp.), which caused me 
more pain and subsequent annoyance than any wound from a 
Centropogon or a Trachinus ever did ; and yet I do not remember 
having read or heard that these fishes were toxophorous; and 
far be it from me to make the accusation. 


*Edib. Fish. N.S. Wales, p. 68. 
+ ** Queensland Sportsman,” January 30, 1903. 


22 STUDIES IN THE ICHTHYOLOGY OF QUEENSLAND 


” 


The origin of the name, ‘“‘ Bullrout,’”’ is unknown, but I do 
not think it likely to be a corruption of a native word (as sug- 
gested by Mr. Woods); more probably it is connected with the 
noise it makes when hooked, and which might have been 
bestowed upon it by the early settlers from a fancied resemblance 
to the distant bellowing of a bull. 


If we turn back now to the primary divisions (see p. 8) 
into which I separated the species referred to Centropogon in 
Ginther’s Catalogue, we shall find that two species—C. fusco- 
virens and C. leucoprosopon—were associated together in my third 
section. The former species is known to me from the descrip- 
tions given by Cuvier xnd Valencienes and by Giinther, the 
latter only by Gunther’s description; both species are, however, 
figured in the Atlas Ichthyologique.* Both are natives of Am- 
boina from whence they were originally described, the one by 
Cuvier, the other by Bleeker, who placed them in the 
heterogeneous assemblage of species which were associated under 
the name Apistus. But in a revision of the family published in 
1876, the latter author founded for them the genus Paracen- 
tropogon (Versl. Ak. Arnst., (2) ix: p. 297), + taking for his type 
Apistus longispinis, Cuv. and Val., with which he had mean- 
while identified A. fuscovirens.t The synonymy of the species, 
in the absence of necessary works of reference is somewhat 
puzzling, but is probably not very different from the following : 


PaRACENTROPOGON LONGISPINIS. 


? Scorpena spinosa, Gmelin. 

Apistus longispinis, Cuvier & Valenciennes, Hist. Nat. Poiss., 
iv. p. 408, 1829, Amboina; Quoy & Gaimard, Voy. 
Astrolabe, p. 694, Poiss. pl. xi. fig. 4, 1833. 

Apistus fuscovirens, Cuvier & Valenciennes, l|.c., p. 409, Amboina; 
Quoy & Gaimard, l.c., p. 695, pl. xi. fig. 5; Bleeker, 
Amboina & Ceram, p. 269, 1852. 

Apistes multicolor, Richardson, Voy. Samarang, Fish. p. 3, pl. 
iv. figs. 3 & 4, 1848. 


+ No letterpress was issued with the plates of the Scorpenida, and it is 
quite possible, therefore, that I may not be correct in some of the deductions 
which I have drawn. 

+ No copy of this work exists in Australia. 

+ My only grounds for this belief are that Apistus fuscovirens is not 
figured inthe Atlas, and that both it and A. longispinis have a similar 
dorsal ornamentation, and that the latter and A. lewcoprosopos have been 
united in the one genus. 


BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 23 


Centropogon fuscovirens, Giinther, Catal. Fish., ii. p. 130, 1860. 

Tetraroge longispinis, Gunther, l.c., p. 134. 

Paracentropogon longispinis, Bleeker, Atl. Ichth., ix, pl. ccecexii. 
fig. 4, 1877. 


PARACENTROPOGON LEUCOPROSOPON. 


Apistus leucoprosopos, Bleeker, Act. Soc. Sc. Ind. Neerl., i.p. 
385, Amboina. 

Centropogon leucoprosopon, Giinther, Catal. Fish., ii. p. 130, 
1860. 

Paracentropogon leucoprosopon, Bleeker, Atlas Ichth., ix, pl. 
eccexiii. fig. 2, 1877. 


A third species of Paracentropogon was described by Dr. 
Gunther and will stand as follows :— 


PARACENTROPOGON NUDUS. 


Tetraroge longispinis, var. nuda, Gunther, Zool. Challenger, i, 

Shore Fishes p. 66, 1880. 

It was necessary for me to refer at some length to my 
knowledge of these species, because the Queenslan J fish of which 
I give a detailed description below has some outward resemblance 
to Bleeker’s figure, but as neither Cuvier and Valenciennes, 
Bleeker, nor Gunther refer to the presence of simple pectoral 
rays and the reduced number of ventral rays they cannot be 
congeneric with our Queensland fish. 


Liocranium, gen. nov. 


Body ovate, strongly compressed, the back elevated in 
front. Scales minute, adherent, cycloid, smooth, arranged in 
regular series. Lateral line complete, not extending on the 
caudal fin; the tubes simple, bent upwards posteriorly, forming 
together a continuous band, each tube corresponding in length 
to from three to five body scales and raised but slightly above 
them. Head large, entirely naked, without dermal appendages, 
its profile declivous and concave in front, parabolic above ; 
snout short and broad, with convex profile; preorbital pore 
inconspicuous ; a large open pore below the chin, behind which 
a series of similar but smaller pores extends backwards along 
each half of the lower jaw inside the dentary bone, thence 
bending upwards along the border of the preopercle. Nape 
arched, continuous with the upper profile of the head, naked, as 
also is the dorsal area above the opercles, a narrow band along 


24 STUDIES IN THE ICHTHYOLOGY OF QUEENSLAND 


the base of the dorsal fin, another behind the head, and the 
pectoral and pelvic areas ; thoracic region entirely covered with 
scales, which are rather smaller than those of the body. Mouth 
with rather large, oblique cleft ; lower jaw a little the longer; 
premaxillaries protractile, produced in a skinny lobe, which 
conceals the lower border of the maxillaries, the upper and 
hinder borders of which are exposed. Jaws with interrupted 
bands of minute, conical teeth; similar teeth on the vomer ; 
palatine bones edentulous. Nostrils large, patent, well separated, 
feebly tubular, without tentacles. Hye very large, anterior, 
sublateral ; interorbital region without tentacles. Cranial ridges 
feeble, smooth ; coracoid process and suprascapular bone without 
spines. Preorbital with two spines, which are concealed in life 
beneath a thick loose skin; the anterior of moderate length, strong, 
directed downwards and backwards ; the posterior longer, strong, 
acute, and thorn-like, not reaching to the end of the maxillary, 
and but moderately erectile, having a wide membranous attach- 
ment to the suborbital stay. Preopercle with three to five points, 
the upper of which is produced to form a stout sharp spine, the 
others being reduced to blunt tubercles ; interopercles in contact ; 
subopercle with a spinate point; opercle with a large triangular 
lobe, and two smooth, feeble, divergent ridges, which do not 
end in spines; the surface smooth. Gills four; no cleft behind 
the fourth; six branchiostegals; gill-rakers short and stout, 
with densely spinulose tips. Upper pharyngeal bones oval and 
remote; lower subpyriform and contiguous; both armed with 
short, stout, crowded, conical teeth. Soft dorsal and anal fins 
without basal scaly sheath; last ray in each divided to the base. 
Dorsal fin originating above anterior border of eye, evenly 
rounded in front, slightly emarginate behind, with xiii 7 rays, 
the spines flexible but acute ; spinous portion of fin more than 
thrice as long as the soft portion; interspinous membrane 
moderately cleft throughout ; last ray partially attached to the 
peduncle. Anal fin with iii 5 rays; spines moderate, the third 
much longer than the second; last ray almost wholly attached 
to the peduncle. Caudal fin large, slightly rounded. Pectoral 
fins large, cuneate, symmetrical, undivided ; each with 14 rays, 
the middle the longest ; some of the lower rays simple. Ventral 
fins small, approximate, inserted behind the base of the pectorals, 
each with i 4 rays; the spine moderately strong and elongate ; 
first soft ray longest, last widely attached to the wall of the 
abdomen. Air-bladder large, strong, and simple. Intestines 


BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 25 


folded. Stomach simple, its posterior half with coarse, 
gizzard-like longitudinal ridges within. Posterior processes of 
premaxillaries not extending to the frontal bone; frontal bone 
with a pair of conspicuous ridges which are divergent in front, 
mesially united by a bony bridge, and abruptly bent outwards so 
as to form a deep loop with the tympanic ridge; coronal ridges 
well developed, continuous with the interfrontal bridge, and 
united posteriorly to form a strong median crest for the first 
dorsal spine, which is deeply grooved anteriorly ; suborbital 
stay with two smooth parallel ridges, which are branched 
posteriorly. Vertebre 8 + 16 = 24. (Actos, smooth; xpaviov, 
skull). 

Coast of Queensland. Monotypic. 

In the obsolescence of the first soft ray of the ventral fins 
this genus agrees with Daia. 


LiocRANIUM PRHPOSITUM, Sp. Nov. 
Divmiia Fenced, acd: 

Depth of body greatest below the fourth dorsal spine, 
where it is 24 to 24 in the total length; length of head 24 to 23 
in the same. Length of snout 14 to 12 in the diameter of 
the eye, which is 23 to 27 in the length of the head. Width of 
interorbital region 5+ to 6 in the head. Maxillary extending to 
the vertical from the posterior border of the orbit, its length 
about 2 in the head, the width of its distal extremity about half 
the diameter of the eye. Posterior preopercular spine extending 
backwards to or a little beyond the vertical from the hinder 
margin of the pupil, its length from the base of the anterior spine 
43 to 5 in that of the head. Upper preopercular spine not quite 
so long as the second preorbital spine. Gill-rakers 3 + 9, a few 
near the hinge claviform, the rest tubercular. Length of soft 
portion of dorsal fin 3} to 384 in that of the spinous, the outer 
border of which is sinuous; third spine the highest, 
twice as high as the first and conspicuously higher than 
the second, 12 in the levgth of the head; behind the third 
the spines decrease in height to the sixth or seventh, and 
then rise to the last, which is but little less than the third 
and inappreciably more than those immediately preceding it,* 


*The tips of the spines are very fragile and easily broken off, but from 
a comparison of three specimens the above appears to be the normal 
sequence in height. In all the fourth spine is apparently lower than the 
third or fifth, but this may not be the case with perfect examples. 


26 STUDIES IN THE ICHTHYOLOGY OF QUEENSLAND 


soft dorsal rays as high as the spinous; outer border angularly 
rounded; last ray almost wholly attached to the peduncle. 
Anal fin originating below the twelfth dorsal spine; the spines 
evenly graduated, the second intermediate in height between the 
first and the third, which is 13 to 13 times the height of the 
first, and subequal to the highest dorsal spine and to the rays. 
Caudal fin with 10 branched rays, the middle pair the longest, 
3 to 31 in the total length. Pectoral fin extending backwards 
to the vertical from the anterior third of the anal, the upper and 
eight lower rays simple ; the lowest branched ray subequal to the 
adjoining simple ray, its length thrice or more than thrice the 
width of its base and a little more than the length of the head. 
Ventral fin pointed, 13? in the head, extending to the origin of the 
anal; its spine stronger and longer than or as long as the third 
anal spine. Pale reddish brown, the head, thorax, and abdomen 
lighter with a yellowish tinge; a dusky band below the second 
and third dorsal spines, passing downwards’ through 
the eye, where it forks, the anterior moiety extending to the base 
of the preorbital spine, the posterior to that of the upper 
preopercular spine; a broad black band from the sixth and 
seventh spines to the middle of the appressed pectoral fin; an 
oval, or oblong black spot below and upon the basal half of the 
last two spinous and first two soft rays, not reaching to 
the lateral line; behind this spot, and occasionally in contact 
with it is a much less conspicuous spot, which crosses the 
lateral line, but does not reach to the dorsal fin. Dorsal, 
caudal, anal, and pectoral fins with numerous small brown spots 
or dark edged ocelli; ventral fins uniform gray. (prepositus, 
an officer: in allusion to the black shoulder bands). 


Length to 120 millimeters. (Head and body 90, caudal 
fin 80). Coast of Queensland. 


Type in the Queensland Museum, Brisbane. 


Note :—In the ‘‘ Records of the Australian Museum ”’ (vol. 
iv., pp. 181-184, 1902) Waite describes as Hypoplectrodes 
armatus and gives an outline drawing of a fish which he 
identifies with Serranus armatus, Castelnau. He has, however, 
somehow neglected to notice that it is the same fish that I had 
previously described (Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S. Wales, xxiv. 
1899, p. 169 et seq.) as Fpinephelides leat. The characters 
which he notices as separating his fish from Gilbertia and 
Hypoplectrodes, and which induced him to propose the subgenus 


BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 27 


Gilbertella,* are alluded to in almost precisely the same words 
as those in which I pointed them out; as there can be no 
question as to the identity of the two fishes, my description 
having been taken from an immature, his from an adult example, 
the name Gilbertella is fortunately unnecessary. Whether it is 
Castelnau’s Serranus armatus or not, it is impossible to decide, 
unless the type be in existence; if this be not the case, his 
description is so bad that the name should be ignored. 


* My friend Mr. Waite appears to have become inoculated with some 
of the prevailing topsyturvydom of Australian nomenclature, since he 
proposes the diminutive appellation for the larger fish. 


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PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 


COLOUR-SIGHT AND COLOUR-BLINDNESS. 


(Puates I. ann II.) 


By JOHN THOMSON, M.B. 


( Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 19th September, 1903 ) 


On two occasions, in 1900 and again in 1902, the Royal 
Society of Queensland did me the distinguished honour of 
appointing me its president—an honour, I need hardly tell you, 
I very much value. 

To the honour, however, is attached the responsibility—not 
the pleasing duty of piloting the Society during the year of 
office, for that, thanks to the energies of the Treasurer and the 
Secretary and the able assistance of the Council, is a labour of 
love—but the task—the responsibility—of the Presidential 
Address. 

I take it that the functions of a Royal Society are to 
encourage original work in every department of physical science, 
and the purely physical need not be the boundary line, ex- 
plorations should be conducted even into the uncanny. 

I also take it that the chair of the president permits him to 
engage in the popular, and in acknowledgement of my indebted- 
ness to the Society for its courtesy to me and in fulfilment of 
my obligation I have selected for my address to-night the some- 
what popular, yet I trust interesting, subject, 


‘*COLOUR-SIGHT AND COLOUR-BLINDNESS.” 


To discuss this, I must lead up to it by endeavouring to 
explain briefly some of the physical properties of light and the 
physiological conditions of vision. 


30 COLOUR-SIGHT AND COLOUR-BLINDNESS 


Licgut AND ITs ComposiTIoN. 


Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) said ‘‘ White light is com- 
posed of rays differently refrangible.”’ 

If a beam of sunlight be admitted to a dark room 
through a very narrow slit in a shutter and received on the 
edge of a triangular prism—the drop of a chandelier will do— 
it will be bent from its straight course and may be projected on 
a screen as a brilliant rainbow-like band of many coloured 
lights—the spectrum. The beam has been decomposed or dis- 
persed by refraction and the seven so-called primary colours 
result—red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet; red 
being the colour of least refraction, violet of most. This 
division into seven is purely arbitrary, and Professor Leslie 
suggests that Newton ‘in the choice of that number was 
apparently influenced by some lurking disposition towards 
mysticism.”’ 

If the solar beam be examined through a spectroscope, the 
spectrum obtained is broken up by numerous fine transverse 
lines, named after their discoverer Frauenhofer’s (1787-1826) 


lines. The more prominent of these are lettered, A being at 


the extreme end of the red and H of the violet, and, as their 
positions are fixed, they are the standards by which places in 
the spectrum are located and referred to. In the spectrum 
mentioned, the red, orange, yellow and green are crowded up, 
making together half the luminous band, while the blue, indigo. 
and violet are extended, and make the other half. 

Spectra are produced by other means than prismatic refrac- 
tions ; bya diffraction grating, the polariscope, phosphorescent and 
fluorescent bodies, thin films and the action of coloured bodies. 

The diffraction spectrum is not so brilliant nor so pure as 
the refraction one; but the distances between the colours are in 
proportion to their wave lengths, hence it is called the normal 
spectrum and yellow is in the middle of it. 

The spectrum has been divided into a thousand (1000) 
parts; the positions of the colours and the spaces occupied by 
them have been defined and the fixed lines of Frauenhofer have 
their allotted places, even to decimal points. Then as difference 
of wave length gives rise to difference of colour, these waves 
have been calculated to the ten-millionths of a millimetre and 
so also with the fixed lines. 

Sir David Brewster (1781-1868) reduced Newton’s pri- 
maries to three :—red, yellow, and blue, and this seemed 


i 


BY JOHN THOMSON, M.B. 31 


practically to solve the colour problem, for it suited every kind of 
worker in every kind of pigment. The secondaries were easily 
obtainec. Red and yellow gave orange; yellow and blue 
produced green, while blue and red made the violets; the 
tertiaries—russet, buff, citron, sage, slate, and plum were 
readily accounted for, even if it has to be admitted that they 
were but primaries or secondaries dulled with grey. 

Scientific enquiry demonstrated that pigments, the finest 
and the best of them in their perfection did not compare in 
purity with the simple colours of the spectrum, and that a 
blending of any of these gave different results from the mixiag 
of similarly named paints or dyes. 

Every one knows that in painting yellow and blue make 
green, but what every one does not know is that the pure yellow 
and blue of the spectrum when blended, instead of green, give 
a pure white, and that green cannot be fcrmed by a mixture 
of any two colours, and that yellow can, for a mixture of red 
and green gives yellow, therefore yellow is not a primary while 
green is. 

Dr. Thomas Young (1773-1829), nearly a century ago, 
founded his theory ‘“‘ that white light is composed of a mix- 
ture of three colours only—red, green, and violet.’’ Von Helm- 
holtz (1621-1894) more fully developed this theory, which is 
now known as the *‘ Young-Helmholtz,” and is generally accepted 
by physicists as satisfactory. 

Professor Clark-Maxwell (1831-1879) modified Young’s by 
differing as to the hues of the primaries. His colours 
were—pure red or scarlet, pure green, and pure blue. 
A solution of sulphocyanide of iron fairly well matches the first ; 
chloride of copper, the second; and ammoniacal sulphate of 
copper, the third; and with troughs of these and three lanterns, 
satisfactory experiments with this theory may be made. 

Hering of Vienna, in 1878, investigated the subject and 
proposed a theory of six primaries :—White, black, red, yellow, 
green and blue; these were arranged in complementary pairs— 
white and black, red and green, yellow and blue. This theory 
was founded on ‘‘fundamental or native sensations,” on a purely 
physiological—not physical 
sent common experience. 


basis, and was supposed to repre- 


Tue Lye. 


The photographic camera and the human eye are both 
optical picture producers and have many things in common; 


32 COLOUR-SIGHT AND COLOUR-BLINDNESS 


and as the construction of the former and the uses of its 
various perts and attachments are fairly well understood, 
it shall be taken as the standard of comparison. The pro- 
tective wood and leather of the camera have their homo- 
logue (structure) and analogue (function) in the selerotic, the 
tough, fibrous outer coat of the eye; the optical part is 
represented by the crystalline lens and other refractive media ; 
the focussing gear by the ciliary muscles ; the iris-diaphragm by 
the iris and pupil; ihe time and instantaneous shutter by the 
eyelids; the blackening (to prevent refections, etc.) by the 
choroid, the pigmentary or middle coat of the eye; and the 
sensitive gelatine bromide of silver plate by the sensory retina, 
the inner lining of the globe. 


The retina is exceedingly complex and although less than 
to inch in thickness is described as composed of ten layers, 
the outer of which, Jacob’s membrane, the bacillary or layer of 
rods and cones, is the most, important and is looked upon as 
“undoubtedly the true perceptive layer,” for where rods and 
cones are absent as at the entrance of the optic nerve, there 
is the blind spot, and where the cones are thickest, as at the 
yellow spot, there vision is most acute. 


The resemblance to photography goes still further, and 
assumes a photo-chemical or photo-chemico-vital aspect; for 
just as the sensitive plate undergoes photo-chemical changes on 
exposure to light, so in the eye is a substance which is 
similarly affected. This is a colouring matter or pigment 
which coats the tips of the rods—the visual purple or rhodopsin, 
and is quickly bleached by light to be restored by rest and 
darkness. And the photographic comparison is completed—for 
as the exposed plate can be developed to yield a picture and then 
fixed, so permanent optograms can be obtained from the retina. 
‘‘That images of objects can be formed on the retina owing to 
the bleaching of the visual purple has been proved by experiment. 
The purple is first changed to a yellow colour and then passes 
into white. These optograms, as they are called, can be fixed 
in an excised eye if the retina be detached and then treated 
with a weak solution of alum.” 


The particular function of this purple has not been 
determined ; it is confined to the outer segments of the rods; 
the cones are devoid of it and as there are but cones in the 
area of most acute vision, it is difficult to understand how 
sight can be dependent upon this retinal purple. 


BY JOHN THOMSON, M.B. 83 


In fact the mechanism by which light is transformed into 
nervous action has not been satisfactorily explained. 

Unlike the photographic plate the retina is not uniformly 
sensitive. Omitting the blind spot (the entrance of the optic 
nerve) the sensitiveness of the retina diminishes as the yellow 
spot or macula is departed from; but even this is not constant, 
it varies for light, form and colour. A white object is seen at 
a greater distance from the centre than a blue, a blue than a 
red, and a red than a green, and these distances again vary with 
the amount of illumination. They can be recorded by an 
instrument called a perimeter on diagrams showing concentric 
circles, which correspond to parallels of latitude on a globe, with 
radiating lines for longitude, but it must be remembered these 
circles and lines are in the concavity of the globe not on its 
convexity—‘‘ on the inner surface of a hemisphere whose pole 
is the point of fixation.’””’ The mapped out area is the field of 
vision for the particular light, form or colour. 


VisIon. 
This ineludes— 

1. The form sense—visual acuity or the power of dis- 
tinguishing objects. This is roughly and somewhat 
arbitrarily estimated as the ability to define sharply 
under good illumination objects at from about ten 
(10) inches to infinite distance from the eye, seen 
under an angle of five (5) minutes. 

2. The light sense—or the faculty of recognising different 
luminous intensities. 

3. The colour sense—or the appreciation of the smallest 
differences of perceptible contrast of colours or of 
tones. 


THe Cotour SENSE. 


Theories of the mechanism of colour vision are chiefly based 
on the theories of light, and attempts are made to blend the 
physical and the physiological—colour mixtures and colour 
sensations. 

The ‘‘ Young-Helmholtz”’ and the ‘‘ Maxwell” are trichromic 
theories and assume three sets of nerve filaments in the retina : 
these filaments correspond to and are excited by the three 
spectral primaries—red, green and violet, or blue according to 
Maxwell—but each colour besides acting upon its own particular 


nerves influences to a certain extent the others. If the three 
c 


34 COLOUR-SIGHT AND COLOUR-BLINDNESS 


are equally excited at once, white is the result ; if there is no 
excitation the sensation is one of blackness or rather absence of 
white and according to the nerves irritated and the degrees of 
irritation so are all the colours produced. 


And colour-blindness is supposed to be due to the depravity 
or absence of one or more of the nerve elements. 


Hering’s theory of six fundamental sensations in pairs, 
though claimed to be trichromic is surely tetrachromic for it 
supposes four principal and pure colours, red and green, yellow 
and blue, besides white and black. The pairs are at once 
complementary and antagonistic and are presumed to act upon 
three substances which are somewhat similar to, or are constitu- 
ents of, the visual purple. Rays of light affect metabolic changes 
—perhaps photo-chemico-vital—on these visual substances in 
different ways—some promoting constructive changes (changes 
of assimilation or anabolic) others promoting destructive changes 
(changes of dissimilation or katabolic) and when these changes 
are in equilibrium no sensation is experienced. Red is a 
dissimilative change, green an assimilative ; yellow dissimila- 
tive, blue assimilative. All the colours act upon the white- 
black substance, but the red-green does not effect the yellow- 
blue nor vice versa. 


And colour-blindness is the absence of one or more of these 
fundamental sensations. 


There are other theories:—Ebbenhaus, based upon the 
supposed decomposition of the visual purple and Parinand, upon 
the action of the rods and cones—stimulation of the former 
causing a sensation of non-coloured light and of the latter all 
possible sensations of colour. 


But ‘‘no theory is satisfactory in character and no facts up 
to the present seem sufficient to explain the mechanism of 
colour vision.” As one author says, ‘‘ this subject has not yet 
found its Newton.’ As another says, ‘‘no colour-blind retina 
has been secured for microscopical examination.” 


Dr. Hugo Magnus, of Breslau, in 1877, advanced a some- 
what curious theory :—That primitive man was colour-blind ; 
starting life with one positive perception, namely, light; and 
one negative, namely, not-light, or darkness; in fact that 
he saw nothing except light and dark and had no sense of 
colour. And Magnus recognised four stages in the march of 


BY JOHN THOMSON, M.B. 35 


educational development which has given us our present perfect 
colour perceptions :— 
Ist stage.—The ability to distinguish red from black. 
2nd stage.—The recognition of the sense of colour apart 
from the sense of light; the reds, oranges, and 
yellows being apparent. 
8rd stage.—The perception of green, with its varieties. 
Ath stage.—The detection of blue. 

In connection with red, its recognition in the first stage 
may be due to its being the most brilliant of the colours. It is 
certainly the colour manufacturers recognise as preferred by 
uncivilised races in their desire for something pronounced. It is 
the colour early acquired by the primitive painter in his art, and 
in the costume of potentates it survives as the choice for spec- 
tacular effects of their long departed predecessors. 


To the second stage are referred the Homeric poems and 
the earlier books of the Old Testament. [See Appendia I.] 

The third stage is not further referred to; but it is stated 
of the fourth ‘“ that it is not even now reached universally, for 
in Burmah a striking confusion between green and blue is a 
perfectly common phenomenon, and a like confusion is some- 
times observable among ourselves as to these two colours when 
seen by candle-light.”’ 

Dr. Edridge Green has recently introduced another theory 
of the evolution of the colour sense. He starts like Magnus 
believing in the colour-blindness of the primeval man, but he 
takes a different view of the order in which the perception of 
colour is acquired. According to Magnus the evolution was in 
the order of refrangibility ; according to Edridge Green the 
extremes of the spectrum are first perceived. He quotes very 
largely from Gladstone’s article (See Appendix I.) and seems 
to build his fancy on Gladstone’s finding that Homer was 
possibly a dichromic, seeing red and violet, and on a patient 
who colour-blind in one eye saw with it ‘‘ the two ends of the 
spectrum tinged with colour and the remainder grey.” He 
believes in a hexachromic theory apparently, because in the 
normal colour-sighted ‘ six definite points of difference (colour) 
are distinguished in the spectrum.’’ He expresses his disbelief 
in the trichromic theory ‘in the sense that there are three 
fundamental sensations which are capable of acting indepen- 
dently of each other.’’ Those who see seven or six colours in the 
spectrum he calls hexachromic; five, pentachromic; four, 


36 COLOUR-SIGHT AND COLOUR-BLINDNESS 


tetrachromic ; three, trichromic ; two, dichromic, anc the totally 
colour-blind monochromic. The order on which, according to 
him the colours are evolved, may be seen in this table : 


Position of colourin spectrum 1 2 3 4 5 6 
Name of colour Red: Orange: Yellow: Green: Blue: Violet: 
Order of evolution 1 6 4 3 5 2 


And when there is a paucity of colours recognised, the missing 
one is the latest in development, thus—a pentachromic would 
not recognise orange; a tetrachromic, blue; a trichromic would 
mix up the yellows and greens; and ‘‘a dichromic confuse 
red, orange, yellow and yellow-green on the one hand and 
blue-green, blue and violet on the other.” 


In illustration of this, Green has published some ten (10) 
coloured spectra, which he supposes represent seven (7) different 
types of colour perception—from the achromic or monochromic 
to those who can see seven or six colours in the solar spectrum, 
the hexachromic or perfect colour-sighted. 

Abney also issued coloured charts to represent a normal 
spectrum, and one each as seen by the green-, the red-, and the 
violet-blind. ; 

But it does not strike me that the authors agree or that 
their charts are a true solution of the colour difficulty. 


Cotour Buinpness, 


Or Daltonism, as it was for a long time called, because John 
Dalton (1766-1844), an English chemist and physicist, himself 
colour blind, described his defects of vision (1794). 

A capital article on the Life and Work of John Dalton 
appears in the ‘“ British Medical Journal” of the 16th of May, 
this year, and an extensive excerpt from his papers on Colour 
Blindness is given in Dalton’s own words. 


When a person can see seven or six colours in the spectrum 
he is admittedly colour perfect ; when he can see five he might 
be classed as fairly normal sighted ; but when he perceives only 
four or fewer or none there is a marked defect in his colour 
perception and he may be partially or completely colour-blind. 


The usual classification is— 
I.—Total Colour-Blindness. Achromatopsia. 
When» all intensities of lightness and darkness may 
be thoroughly recognised, but no colour per- 
ceived. 


BY JOHN THOMSON, M.B. 37 


I1.—Partial Colour-Blindness. 
1. Complete Partial. Dyschromatopsia. 
In which one of the primaries (adopting the 
trichromic theory) is totally awanting. 
a. Red blindness—complete. 
b. Green _,, i 
e. Violet __,, a 


2. Incomplete Partial. 
Where one or more of the three primaries is 
defective or inferior in excitability. 
a. Red blindness—incomplete. 
b. Green _,, ‘5 
ey Niglet.. 45 - 
d. Feeble chromatic sense. 


This classification is purely arbitrary, far too exacting, and 
signally fails to account for the overlapping cases which I have 
seen and recorded but of which I am unable to determine the 
exact defect. As one author puts it, ‘‘ there is no such sharp 
and absolute distinctions in any case as the hobby-riding colour 
theorist sometimes avers.”’ 


I have now examined for colour vision 1128 candidates for 
employment in the Queensland Government Railways, but I am 
sorry to admit that I have only exact records of the last 782, 
and I discovered among these 18 colour lind individuals or 2°3 
per cent., which is considerably under the usual returns of 4 or 
5 per cent. 

In no case have I found a candidate with normal colour 
vision in one eye and colour blindness in the other; nor have I 
met with a case of total colour-blindness except possibly one ; 
nor a case of feeble chromatic sense. All my cases have been 
well marked, as will be seen from the accompanying table—a 
table which I believe to be unique. I have hunted in vain 
through British literature for such a record. Odd and vague 
statements are constantly to be met with referring to the 
mistakes of the colour-blind, but this is the only table I am 
aware of where are to be found, in minute and scientific detail, 
the blunders of twenty (20) colour-blind individuals, tested on a 
trichromic basis. This table gives the details of the examina- 
tion of twenty (20) men who have been certified colour-blind— 
two (2) of these were not railway men. 

The method of testing is by showing the examinee a skein 
of coloured worsted—a test skein—and asking him to point out 


88 COLOUR-SIGHT AND COLOUR-BLINDNESS 


any skeins among the lot presented to him which in his opinion 
resemble the test skein. 

The lot presented are in three (8) groups. Group 1 
consists of twenty (20) skeins; ten (10) green in varying shades 
and intensities, and ten (10) so-called confusion colours, which, 
owing to hue or colour, luminosity or brightness and purity or 
admixture of another colour or white or black (in this case 
undoubted impurity) may be confounded or confused with the 
green. The confusion colours are greys, fawns and browns. 

Group 2 has ten (10) skeins; five (5) pinks, varying from 
rich red pink to yellow pink and five (5) confusion colours 
chiefly blues and grey-b!ues and violet. 

Group 3 is also ma’e up of ten (10) skeins; five (5) reds 
of various kinds and five (5) confusion colours, reddish and 
greenish browns and a yellow. 

An analysis of the table shows that all the examinees— 
twenty (20)—were green-blind, and that although eleven (11) of 
them selected skein 1, or a green identical with the test 
skein, all of these and others also selected browns. Sixteen 
(16) examinees picked out skein 8, a light yellow brown. 
Fifteen (15) selected skein 10, also a yellow brown; and 
thirteen (13) skein 20, a grey brown; besides six (6) selections 
were made from group 2 or the pinks, and twenty-five (25) 
from group 3 or the reds. 

In the pink group, although sixteen (16) examinees selected 
27 or the test colour, all twenty (20) were colour defective in 
this group, and thirty (80) selections were made from among 
the greens in the green group. 

In the red group, nineteen (19) examinees chose skein 31, 
or the test, and six (6) examinees 4, 6, 7, 8, 12, and 16, had 
normal vision for red, but the other fourteen (14) were red- 
blind, and made sixteen (16) selections from among the green 
group. 

Some examinees selected the same skein «as representing 
two groups—green and red. 

Examinee 9, selected skein 5—a medium olive green. 


sf Oe kan: ,, 12—a medium coffee brown. 
ss Eee ,, 32—a reddish brown. 

ye ed gs ,, 10—a light yellow brown. 

a: ee a3 »,  8—a light yellow brown. 

5a gettll Baeas ,, 383—a bright red. 


i ss ees ,, 34—a greenish brown. 


BY JOHN THOMSON, M.B. 39 


One (1) bright red, skein 33; one (1) red orange, skein 37 ; 
three (3) rich vrange, skein 39; and one (1) yellow, skein 40, 
were selected by examinees in quest of green. The same ex- 
aminee 18, selected skeins 87, 89, and 40. Some in quest of 
red, made selections from among the greens; one (1) chose 
skein 8, a blue-green; three (3) chose skein 5, a medium olive 
green ; one (1) chose skein 7, a blue-green; the same examinee, 
18, choosing skeins 8, 5, and 7; that is to say, four (4) green- 
blind included reds in their choice, and three (3) red-blind, 
included greens. 

No pink or group 2 selection was made among the reds, 
and no red or group 8 selection from among the pinks. 

There is no difficulty in detecting a colour-blind individual ; 
he usually betrays himself before he even makes a selection, 
by taking the test skein in his hand turning it over and over 
and examining it as if he hoped to obtain some inspiration 
through another faculty than that of sight. This is often very 
marked. But I find a very great difficulty in classifying the 
colour-blind, and I ought not to, seeing how definite (?) are the 
directions and exact (?) the colour cards indicating different types 
of colour blindness. 

It is quite in doubt what a colour-blind man sees, for he 
cannot communicate his perceptions otherwise than by sugges- 
tion and when he uses certain terms, say rew or green, there is no 
evidence that his impressions are similar to ours with reference 
to these particular colours for he confounds them. 

Two notable cases are recorded by Hippel and Edridge 
Green of patients who had normal colour perception in one eye 
and were colour blind in the other. In both instances they 
recognised the extremes of the spectrum; Hippel’s case saw 
yellow and blue, Green’s saw red and violet but confounded 
yellow and blue. 

None of my cases confounded the ends of the spectrum, 
reds with violets, and this isin support of Gladstone’s finding 
with reference to Homer’s colour perception and in keeping 
with Edridge Green’s theory of the evolution of the colour 
sense. 

With the colour-blind a great deal of guessing goes on 
when selections are being made, and although the defect will 
invariably assert itself, for one or more of the confusion 
colours will always be chosen, there will certainly be a variety 
in the skeins selected and no two examinations will give the 
same result. 


40 COLOUR-SIGHT AND COLOUR-BLINDNESS 


It frequently appears that not hue nor colour but 
intensity—brightness or shade—influences the choice; that 
skeins totally different in colour, but somewhat the same in 
depth are chosen. 


Remembering the photo-chemico-vital action of light on 
the visual purple or rhodopsin and the photo-chemical action 
of light on the photographic gelatine plate, I experimented with 
the railway red and green flags. I got some official bunting, 
samples of both colours and photographed them first on a 
white background and then on a black. The results are thrown 
on the screen direct from the negative, for some of the contrast 
might have been exaggerated if a lantern slide positive had been 
used. With an Ilford’s ordinary plate the actinic exertion of 
neither red nor green is much; what there is, is distinctly in 
favour of green, but considering the intense differences 
suggested by the two flags photographic results show no great 
contrast. With Ilford’s chromatic plates the difference is 
much more apparent. These, the chromatic or correct-colour- 
value plates might be likened to the normal sighted, while the 
ordinary plates would represent the partially colour-blind. 


By throwing a red light on the screen from a red glass 
which cuts off the green rays of the spectrum the audience 
becomes temporarily green-blind and is supposed to see things 
as the green-blind are suspected to see them; while by using a 
blue-green light which absorbs all the red rays the audience, 
deprived of red, is temporarily red-blind and sees as it is fan- 
cied the red blind should see. 


Abney is responsible for this experiment but I doubt its 
truth. With the red light the green flag certainly reflects 
no colour and looks black, but the red is depraved ; and with the 
green light the red flag is black and the green is hardly recog- 
nisable. The experiment proves too much; in each instance it 
destroys one colour and materially disturbs the other. 


Some time ago I thought I was in the fair way of solving 
the colour-blind problem. Those of you who photograph must 
remember an old recommendation, namely, to view your intended 
landscape picture throuvh deep blue glass so as to get your 
colour values. Doing this it struck me how very identical in 
colour was a red brick wall with the green leaves of the creeper 
that clung to it, and working the experiment out I found that a 
blue vision would fairly account for such of the colour-blind 
blunders as I was acquainted with. I turned to all the available 


BY JOHN THOMSON, M.B. 41 


authorities on the subject and finding no reference whatever to 
a blue theory was beginning to congratulate myself, when 
opening an old tome “ that had long lain hid ”’ I discovered that 
Dalton had suggested that the red rays in his case were absorbed 
by the vitreous humour which might have a blue colour or by 
the retina itself having a blue tint. An examination of Dalton’s. 
eyes was made after death, ‘‘ but no blue vitreous humour, nor 
blue retina was there, thus affording a refutation of both these 
conjectures.” 


I think the blue theory might be revived; it is about as 
good as any at present; and it might be worked in, in connec- 
tion with a cyanic depravity of the visual purple. 


Cases of colour-blindness are also classified as Congenital 
and Acquired. 


Congenital.—I believe those in my table are all congenital 
and were in no way induced or aggravated by habit or disease. 
Whether they were hereditary it is impossible to say. Highteen 
(18) of the men were certainly unaware of any defect until after 
examination and all declared they never heard of colour- 
blindness among their relatives. The other two (2) knew of 
their abnormality, but did not regard this as hereditary, Yet in 
the case of examinee 20, a solicitor, it is very distinctly so. A 
nephew of his, a bright lad of 11, is coloux-blind and in an 
astonishing way followed the mistakes of the maternal uncle ; 
and further enquiry elicited the fact that defective colour per- 
ception is very distinctly hereditary in this well-known Brisbane 
family, for of thirteen (13) males appearing in five (5) branches 
during three (3) generations, six (6) are known to be colour- 
blind, with in every instance the transmission, as to be expected, 
through the mothers, all of whom are said to enjoy normal 
colour sight. 


HEREDITY OF COLOUR-BLINDNESS. 
E 


7" 


of 13 


| 


Youngest 


| | 


ree 
40 


MMMM F F F F F ‘FM MMMM F F 


ss eto 
FM F FM F F F M 
(The black letters MI indicate the colour-blind.) 


ete 
Pine 


42 COLOUR-SIGHT AND COLOUR-BLINDNESS 


Congenital cases are permanent, are not amenable to any 
treatment, and educational training has no effect. 


Acquired.—I have not detected a case of acquired colour- 
blindness. It is stated ‘‘ to commence as a rule in the centre of 
the field and is an almost pathognomonic sign of what is com- 
monly called ‘ toxic amblyopia,’ that is to say, of a neuritis which 
is limited (at the beginning) to the macular fasciculus of retinal 
fibres, and caused by the excessive use (excess either absolute or 
relative to the idiosyncrasy of the patient) of tobacco, 
of alcoho! and possibly of other agents, either singly or in 
combination.”” Mr. Priestly Smith has pointed out “that as a 
rule the disease is not produced by tobacco alone but by some 
cause of depression acting upon a large consumer, such as 
shipwreck and its attendant hardships upon a sailor, or financial 
anxieties upon a great smoker who is engaged in trade.” 


As the disturbed retinal area may be limited, the colour of 
a large object may be easily perceived by the unaffected areas, 
while that of a small one, falling within the diseased limits, 
cannot be seen. 


Dancers FRoM CoLour-BLINDNEss. 


That there are colour-blind people, people who cannot see 
red or green or confuse the two is undoubted ; and it would be 
a grave danger to travellers by sea or land if these defective- 
sighted individuals were in charge of our ships or our trains. 


The side lights of all vessels of all countries are green 
(blue-green) and red (rich ruby). Green for the starboard, or 
right side of the ship; red for the port, or left. 

On land, on the railways, green is the safety light; red, 


the danger signal. 


In the Report of the Committee on Colour Vision, presented 
to both Houses of the Imperial Parliament in June, 1892, it is 
said ‘The direct evidence before them (the Committee) is not 
sufficient to cause them to say that accidents, either by sea or 
land, have conclusively been traced to defective colour vision ; yet 
this by no means disproves the high probability that accidents 
have really occurred from such defects.” And the safety cf the 
travelling public is made secure so far as defective colour per- 
ception is concerned by insisting upon the employment of those 
only who possess a normal colour sense. And this of course 
necessitates careful and scientific examination anc selection. 


BY JOHN THOMSON, M.B. 43 


Dr. Jay Jeffries, of Boston, U.S.A., in his work on Colour- 
Blindness is more assertive and declares that railway and 
marine accidents have occurred from it and cites instances. 

Someone has suggested the impossibility of getting at the 
truth, of subsequently proving or disproving colour-blindness, 
owing to the individual responsible for the catastrophe being 
lost with his ship or wrecked with his train. 

It has been proposed to alter the lights and employ those 
not likely to be mistaken by partially or completely colour-blind 
people; colours from the extremes of the spectrum, red, orange 
or yellow, and blue, blue-violet, and violet. 

Orange and yellow are out of the question, for they would 
readily be confounded with other lights which are not signals 
chiefly in the vicinity of towns, just as white was—and it has 
been discarded as the ‘‘clear’’ or safety signal on the railways. 
Red alone remains; it is a saturated and brilliant colour; a red 
glass transmits about 10 per cent. of the luminosity of the lamp 
behind it; in red theory and practice agree; experiment and 
experience force its use. 

Blue, blue-violet and violet are impracticable owing 
to lack of Lrilliancy and indistinctness when viewed from a 
distance ; glasses of these hues only transmit from 2 to 4 per 
cent. of the light behind. 

The red and green must remair ; they cannot be altered to 
suit the individual; he must be selected to recognise them, and 
in the selection ‘‘ the greatest severity should be observed, or, 
in other words, the least defect in the sense of colour should be 
a sufficient ground for rejection.” (Regulavions for the 
management of State railways in Sweden). 


TESTING FOR OoLouR-BLINDNESS. 


The test adopted is the one recommended in the report of 
the committee on colour vision, t.c., Holmgren’s, introduced in 
1878, the well known coloured wool-matching test. A complete 
set of Holmgren’s wools runs into many dozens of skeins, and 
many of these are difficult to procure, and are unnecessary. 
Professor Thomson, of Philadelphia, suggested a modification of 
Holmgren’s methods, and this was adopted and successfully by 
the Pennsylvania and other American railways. I have used it 
for some twelve years ; it is the scheme I have already referred 
to and on which my table is based, and I have confidence in it. 
But practically it still remains Holmgren’s, and Holmgren’s has 
been adopted by almost every country—European and American 


44 COLOUR-SIGHT AND COLOUR-BLINDNESS 


—as the standard for the determination of colour vision. ‘‘ The 
great point in a test is to cause the candidate to do something to 
show that he appreciates colour. It is this doing something and 
saying nothing which is the important feature of the Holmgren 
test. A man may be ignorant of the names of colours—colour 
ignorant, it is called—but he cannot be ignorant of the colours 
themselves if he has normal colour vision.” 


So when a candidate is handed a single skein and asked to 
match it or pick out from the many skeins before him all he 
thinks like it he is subjected to a very practical test. He may 
—he very often does—say when handed the test skein ‘ Oh, 
that is a green.’’ The answer is, ‘‘ Then pick out all the 
greens you see.’” But he is not requested or even encouraged to 
name colours. 


Quite recently, 1902, at a meeting of ophthalmologists in 
England an attempt was made to throw discredit upon the wool 
test and a resolution was proposed that ‘‘ the employment of the 
Holmgren test for colour-blindness by the Board of Trade is 
most unsatisfactory, as the inefficiency of this test is now well- 
known.’’ Twenty-four members were present but only seven 
voted and the motion was lost by one vote. 


There are other wool arrangements, Jeaffreson’s frame, 
Roberts table and Dorffel’s sets. Then there are the War Office 
cards, Rumble’s gelatine discs and the double lamps. Hach lamp 
is like a signal one, but instead of only white, red and green lights 
it has about a dozen. The examiner takes one lamp; the candi- 
date is given the other; the former turns on a coloured sector, 
the latter has to shew asimilar one. No questions are asked and 
no colours are mentioned. 


Stilling used coloured cards, the colours dark and light 
green alternately being in numerous (357) small squares each 
bounded by black lines, a checker pattern. On the card was a 
letter in red squares, the red being equal in intensity to the 
light green. The different shades of green with the black 
edging were said to baffle the colour-blind who failed to see the 
red letter. 


Edridge Green uses a lantern with seven coloured glasses 
and atmospheric effects can be produced by the ingenious 
addition of six modifying glasses, four neutral to suggest 
varying degrees of fog, one ground to represent mist and a 
ribbed one pretending rain. 


BY JOHN THOMSON, M.B. 45 


Abney employs what he calls a colour-patch-apparatus, a 
contrivance by which rays from sun- or arc-light are first 
parallelised and then partially refracted and partially reflected ; 
the former, the refracted, pass through two prisms and are 
focussed on a screen to form a spectrum, or by using a slit, any 
ray of a spectrum, or by employing a collective lens, a white 
image; the latter, the reflected, fall on a mirror and by means 
of a lens can be thrown on the same screen and alongside the 
colour patch.* 


In cases of acquired colour-blindness, a condition I have 
already said I have no experience of, with the affected retinal 
area or areas small, the wool test would fail, for the skeins being 
large their images would be received on parts of the retina not 
diseased and colours would be correctly matched. 


To provide for this Sir Wm. Abney says: ‘“‘I have had a 
set of brick-clay pellets some ,°, inch in diameter, painted with 
water colours mixed with soluble glass solution of the same 
colours as the wools. ‘hese are placed in a shallow tray and 
presented to patients affected with this central blindness to pick 
out all the pellets which match reds and greens. They will tell 
you they see neither the one nor the other, though they will pick 
out the blue pellets unerringly. A rec pellet they will match 
with a red, green, grey or a brown one, and a green one with 
the same. If, however, you instruct them to direct their eyes 
a few degrees away from the tray, they will tell you they see all 
the colours, and as they endeavour to pick thom out, they, with 
a natural instinct, direct their eyes again to the collection when 
once more the colours vanish. It is almost piteous sometimes 
to see the distress which this simple test occasions.”’ 

Watching a colour-blind individual stumbling over his mis- 
taken skeins is a rather painful sight, but there are occasionally 
some amusing incidents, 

Examinee 4 was a fine strapping fellow, and I was anxious 
to get him for the Railways, and I was also anxious to experi- 
ment with him to discover if possible any method which might 
be adopted to correct his defective colour sense. Time and again 


* Norre.—I referred to a leading, perhaps the leading, firm of opticians 
in London, and received answer :—‘‘ 7/9/03. The only coloured tests that 
seem to be in demand are the ordinary sets of wools. Nearly all the tests 
you mention in your letter have not been manufactured for many years; 
we could let you have them if you wish, but it is doubtful whether you 
would consider that they would be worth the carriage to send.” 


46 COLOUR-SIGHT AND COLOUR-BLINDNESS 


I tested him and each time he was worse than before. One 
day in the most delicate role I could assume I questioned him 
as to the existence of— 
‘A dearer one still, and a nearer one yet, than all other ? ” 

He blushingly answered—there was; and I bade him bring her 
on her Sunday out. She had never heard of colour-blindness 
and being particularly sharp herself was astonished, aye, vexed 
at ber lover’s mistakes. I told her to get a lot of skeins of 
coloured worsted similar to those I had and to coach her friend 
for a future examination. She did so and the couple returned 
to me two or three weeks later jubilant with the certainty of the 
youth’s suecess—and in a fashion he was successful. Try him 
as I pleased and shuffle his wools as I might he never faltered, 
he never failed; then I bethought me to test him with my wools. 
He was hopelessly colour-blind. 


Examinee 14 was a sturdy married man who had the 
chance of employment on our railways. Finding he was colour- 
blind I said nothing but told him to present himself for re- 
examination and to bring his wife with him. When she arrived 
- I told her I had sent for her to see fair play. I warned her to 
say nothing no matter what she saw else I would send her from 
the room. Poor woman! She knew nothing of colour-blindness. 
For a time she watched the blunders of her better half, but when 
he selected a coffee-brown skein for a bright green she could 
contain herself no longer but whacked her hubby on his head 
with her ‘‘brolly,” called him a fool and bounced from 
my office. 


Examinee 16 was a fireman, who, through colour-blindness,. 
had lost his place on the “ foot-plate.” Some considerable time 
after he came to me with a certificate from an ophthalmic 
surgeon wherein it was stated the late fireman had normal 
colour perception. After showing me this he threatened me 
with the vengeance of some association to which he belonged. 
I retested him then and said nothing to him beyond advising 
him to go about his business. From me he went to the office 
of the Chief Mechanical Engineer and showing his document 
declared he was an ill-used man, having lost his billet through 
my mistake. I was asked to re-examine him and consented to 
do so if a responsible officer of the department was present. 
The candidate and the witness arrived together; I showed the. 
former the green test skein and asked him to pick out from the 
lot anything like it carefully avoiding the mention of any 


BY JOHN THOMSON, M.B. 4] 


colour names. He struck an attitude, a+ least I thought he did, 
and picking up a skein thundered ‘this is the only green one 
in the pack.’”” He chose a brown. I havn’t seen him since. 


Examinee 19 was not a railway candidate but a very distin- 
guished personage who permitted me to test his colour sense on 
two or three occasions. Shortly after his arrival in Brisbane he 
gave himself away by saying to a distinguished official at a 
garden party ‘‘ Who is that lady with the green feather in her 
hat?” ‘The feather was red! He was heard to speak of the 
lovely purple-violet blossoms of the jacaranda as red; and he 
admitted to me that he saw no difference in colour between the 
turkey-red bracts and the green leaves of the poinsettia. He 
was totally green-blind, and insisted to the last that skeins 8 
and 10, both brown, were green. His wife who knew of his 
colour defect told me his taste was exquisite, and that when he 
criticised the appointments of his own table and the toilettes of 
his guests he was invariably correct. 


SUGGESTIONS 


for the employment of coloured skeins in testing vision may be 
of value. Iam not aware that any of these are to be found in 
any Manual or are laid down in any set of Regulations, but they 
are the result of my experience in testing 1128 candidates; I 
am sure they are fair as between the examined and the examiner. 
I submit them for what they are worth. 


1. The examination should be conducted in daylight. 
2. The skeins should be spread on a white or black back- 
ground; a towel or white table cover. 

(a.) A many-coloured table cloth, cushion, or curtain 
should not be used as a background; the colours 
might be confused. 

3. Candidates should be given time and dealt with patiently. 

(a,) The majority select quickly. 

(b.) Some seem stupid or get confused or fail to 
understand what is expected of them. 


(c.) A few get nervous and seem to imagine a trick is 
being played or that there is something mystic 
about the test. 


(d.) Those who are colour-blind soon betray themselves. 


48 COLOUR-SIGHT AND COLOUR-BLINDNESS 


4. Candidates should not be requested or encouraged to 
name colours. 

(a.) The idea of colour testing is to do something and 
to say nothing; to match skeins not to name 
them. 

(b.) Colour-ignorance and colour-blindness are two very 
different things. 

(c.) The ignorance can be corrected. 

(d.) The blindness cannot, and it is for the blindness 
only the test has been established. 


5. No candidate should be pronounced colour-blind until he 
has been examined twice or even oftener. 

(a.) I believe a congenital colour-blind person is incur- 
able. 

(b.) I have tested some of the rejected candidates quite 
a dozen times. 

(c.) I have had them under tuition. 

(d.) I have had them purchase skeins ; these in a short 
time they would learn all about and would glibly 
rattle off their names, but when shown fresh or 
strange skeins their blindness was as apparent 
as ever. 


6. No candidate should be pronounced colour-blind unless 
examined before a witness. 

(a.) A colour-blind person when first told of his 
defect does not not understand it and cannot 
believe it. 

(b.) Neither do his friends. 

(c.) It is well that his blunders should be witnessed 
by one or more of his own people. 


7. The test and confusion colours should all be numbered, 
so that candidate’s mistakes may be recorded for future 
reference. 

(a.) T look upon this as important, although I recog- 
nise the fact that the colour-blind with every 
examination vary their selections, so that no two 
examinations will give the same results. 


BY JOHN THOMSON, M.B. 49 


APPENDIX I. 


That extraordinary man, the late Mr. W. E. Gladstone, in 
an article in Vol. 2 of the ‘‘ Nineteenth Century ”’ for 1877 dealt 
with the colour sense of 

‘* The Blind Old Man of Scio’s Rocky Isle.” 


and his conclusions were, ‘‘ that Homer’s system of colour or 
rather his system in lieu of colour was founded upon light and 
upon darkness, its opposite or negative : and that the organ of 
colour was but partially developed among the Greeks of his age,”’ 
And ‘‘ that although Homer has used light in its various forms 
for his purposes with perhaps greater splendour and effect than 
any other poet, yet the colour adjectives and colour descriptions 
of the poems were not only imperfect but highly ambiguous and 
confused.” In a learned, classical, and logical fashion he criti- 
cally analyses the various uses of the words—eruthros, xanthos, 
chloros, kuaneos, porphureos and others, and suggests that 
Honier had a partial recognition of the extremes of the spectrum 
in that he had discovered an affinity between what lies next to 
light, viz., red and orange—eruthros and xanthos—and what 
lies next at the other end of the scale to not-light, viz., violet, 
porphureos: recognising red and orange at the one end and 
violet at the other, but failing in the yellows, greens and blues. 


In a very interesting letter I received from Mr. R. H. Roe, 
head master of our Grammar School, he says ‘‘ There can be 
no certainty that Homer was blind, because the best modern 
critics are about equally divided whether there was a single poet 
Homer at all; but there is no doubt that the ancient sculptors 
represented their Homer as blind, and that ancient historians 
and poets spoke of him as blind. In the Homeric hymn quoted 
by Thucydides (Bk. iii., cap. 104) appears — 

TupAros avyp, oiker b€ Xiw "uu raitadoeooy 
(<« A blind man, he dwells in rocky Chios,”’) 


which line Thucydides considers evidently to be written by 
Homer himself; and upon it is based the popular belief of 
antiquity about the poet’s blindness. Still I presume that even 
the ancients only considered him blind in mature or late life, for 
otherwise he could not have described the scenes of nature with 
such an artist’s eye as he has done. The words which in my 
reading of Homer I have always found used in the most in- 
definite way are kuaneos, xanthos and glaukos, though eruthros 


and porphureos are very loosely used also. You will find in a 
D 


50 COLOUR-SIGHT AND COLOUR-BLINDNESS 


large Liddell and Scott that kuaneos is applied to the deep sea, 
to the blue corn-flower, blue steel, to lapis lazuli, to the hair of 
Ulysses, to the swallow and to the clouds—evidently covering a 
wice range between dark blue and black. 


‘‘Xanthos again is used of ripe corn, chestnut horses, lions, 
gold, golden hair, blushing, wine—ranging thus from yellow to 
red. 

‘““Glaukos, gray, again ‘s used of the eyes, the olive, the sea, 
the vine, the beryl and the topaz—ranging from gray to light 
blue and green. 

‘‘Hruthros, red, ranges from vermilion and scarlet to copper 
and blood. 

‘« Porphureos, violet, is used of the sea, wine, rainbow, 
hair and cheeks, the two latter being post- Homeric. 

‘* Still I do not think too much should be made of this vague 
use of epithets by the ancients, or that we should infer they could 
not distinguish between the different colours. The right 
inference would rather be that they had very few words 
to express finer shades of colour, and few pigments to act 
as standard names; hence their few epithets had to do 
duty for a variety of things. We, in our day, have seen a 
variety of new names for colours added to our language, i.e., 
mauve, magenta, cerise—but I think we should be wrong in 
saying that our fathers were unable to distinguish these shades 
from others because they had no name for them. 


‘¢ A black fellow would probably be able to see a difference 
between them all though his vocabulary would not enable him 
to discrimate between them in speech. 

‘‘ These were the feelings which Gladstone’s book raised in 
me on the question. The subject, however, is very interesting 
and the old man may claim the merit of having started it.” 

In the life of Homer, attributed to the Greek historian 
Herodotus of Halicarnassus (484 B.c.), the poet’s real name 
is given as Melesigenes, and it is stated that during his travels 
he became blind and that the Cumeans nick-named him 
‘¢ Homeros’’—the blind man—literally ‘‘one who follows a 
guide.”’ 

Gladstone, in the magazine article referred to, further 
says :—‘‘I understand from an able Hebraist that the Old Tes- 
tament offers much evidence of the imperfect conception of 
colour in early times.” 


BY JOHN THOMSON, M.B. 51 


Dr. Wm. Scott, in his Dictionary of the Bible, 1860, in a 
considerable article on Colours says :—‘‘ Among the Jews, who 
fell even below their contemporaries in the cultivation of the 
fine arts and to whom painting was unknown until a later 
period, the knowledge of artificial colours was very restricted. 

The highest development of colour in the mind of 
the Hebrew was light and hence the preponderance given to 


white. . . . Next to white, black, or rather dark, holds 
the most prominent place. . . . Red was a colour of which 
the Jews had a vivid conception. . . . Yellow is very seldom 


noticed ; it was apparently regarded as a shade of green. 

Green is frequently noticed, but an examination of the passages 
in which it occurs will show that the reference is seldom to 
colour but applies to what is vigorous, flourishing, out-spreading, 
sproutiny, fresh, young, moist, sappy and unripe. Thus it may 
be said that green is never used in the Bible to convey the im- 
pression of a proper colour.”’ 


Besides white and black, I find on reference to Cruden’s 
Concordance that the following colours are mentioned in the 
Old Testament so many times :— 


Red 21 Yellow 4 Green 25 

Blue 14 Violet 2 Brown 4 

Vermilion 2 Crimson 5 Scarlet 34 
Purple 16 


Maenus has sought in ancient descriptions of the rainbow 
a support for his theory and naturally makes out a good case. 
Homer (? 1000 8.c.), he thinks, dealt with it as one-coloured, 
red or purple; the ancient Arabs described it as red; Hzekiel 
(588 B.c.), Chap. I., v. 28, says it has an appearance of brightness ; 
Xenophanes (? 550 B.c.) sees three colours in the bow—red, blue, 
and yellow-green ; Aristotle (884 B.c.) is for a tricolour; Ovid 
(43 B.c.) is vague ; Seneca (B.c.-a.D.), ditto; Suedas and Galen 
(36 a.p.) support the triad of colours and so do the Hastern and 
later Arabian literatures. 


52 COLOUR-SIGHT AND COLOUR-BLINDNESS 


APPENDIX II. 


The following were thrown on the screen during the 
lecture. 


1—The refraction spectrum—1l0 feet long. Are lamp, and two 
bisulphide of carbon prisms. 
2—The diffraction spectrum—6 feet long. Arc lamp and grating. 
3—Solar spectrum—diagram. 
4—The two spectra— refraction and diffraction diagram. 
5—A comparison of the two spectra. 
6—Brewster’s theory of colour. 
7—Chromatic circle ; Maxwell’s theory. 
8—Horixontal section of left eye—diagram. 
9-—Vertical section of retina—diagram. 
10—Vertical section of retina, photo-micrograph, by Dr. Thomson, 
x 300. 
1]—9 and 10 compared. 
12—Perimetric chart ; Gibson and Russell ; right eye. 
13—Perimetric chart ; Brudenell Carter ; left eye. 
14—Perimetric chart; Abney; for red. 
15—Perimetric chart; Abney; for green. 
i6—Carter’s perimeter. 
17—Young-Helmholz theory—diagram. 
18— Colour table of Maxwell—diagram. 
19—Colour curves of Maxwell—diagram. 
20—Colour curves of a dichromatic, after Maxwell. 
21—Dr. Magnus’ theory of colour sensation. 
22—Dr. Edridge Green’s theory of colour sensation. 
23— Dr. Edridge Green’s spectra of the colour-blind. 
24—Likeness of John Dalton from B.M.A., 16/5/03. 
25—Table of colour blind. 
26—Red and green bunting on a white background ; Iford’s ordinary. 
27—Red and green bunting on a white background; Ilford’s chromatic. 
28—Red and green bunting on a black background; Ilford’s ordinary. 
29—Red and green bunting on a black background; Ilford’s chromatic. 
30—Red light—Experiments with : effects of. 
31—Green light—Experiments with: effects of. 
32—Blue light—Experiments with: effects of. 
33—Heredity of Colour Blindness. 
34—Stilling’s Test Card. 
35—Colour Patch Apparatus ; Abney. 
36—Colour Patch Apparatus; Abney—diagram. 
37—London Funch—red, white, blue. 29/4/03. 


BY JOHN THOMSON, M.B. 53 


APPENDIX III. 
REFERENCES. 


Asney, Str W. p—E W.—Colour Measurement and Mixture, 1891;—Report of 
the Committee on Colour Vision, presented to both Houses of Parlia- 
ment, 1892 ;—Colour Vision, 1895. 

Auten, Grant. —Colour-Blindness. 

Benson, Wu.—Manual of the Science of Colour, 1871. 

BERNSTEIN, JuLIus.—The Five Senses of Man, 1876. 

Brvan, Rey. W. L.—‘‘ Colours”; Dr. Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible, 
vol. 1, 1860. 

Carter, R. BrupeneLy.— Ophthalmic Surgery, 1857 ;—Medical Ophthalmo- 
logy in Clifford Allbutt’s System of Medicine, vol. vi. 

Cuurcy, A. H.—Colour. 

Crupen, Atex.—Complete Concordance to the Holy Scriptures. 

Cunnineuam, D. J.—Text Book of Anatomy, 1902. 

DanreL, ALFRED.—‘‘ Colour.” Chambers’ Encyclopeedia, vol. ili., 1889. 

Eprincre Green, F. W.—Colour-Blindness, 1891;—Vision; The Medical 
Annual, 1901 ;—Colour-Blindness ; The Nineteenth Century and after, 
vol. 1, 1902 ;—British Medical Journal for 1st November, 1902, and 22nd 
November, 1902. 

Fox anp Gountp.—Diseases of the Eye, 1889. 

Gipson AND RussELL.—Physical Diagnosis, /.890. 

Guapstonr, Rr. Hon. W. E.—The Colour Sense, Nineteenth Century, 
vol. ii., 1877. 

Horst, Gro. H.—Colour, 1900. 

Jerrries, B. Jay.—Colour-Blindness, its Dangers and its Detection, 1879. 

Lanpots AnD Strruinc.—A Text-Book of Human Physiology, 1891. 

Ls Conte, Josrpu.—Sight, 1881. 

Lockxyrer, J. Norman—The Spectroscope, 1873. 

Lonemorz, Surcron-GeneraL, T.—The Optical Manual, 1885. 

Lunprz, R. A.—Colour-blindness. Chambers’ Encyclopedia, vol. iii., 1889. 

Mackenziz, Win~t1am—The Diseases of the Eye, 1854. 

Power, Henry—EHlements of Human Physiology, 1885. 

Roz, R. H., Grammar School Brisbane—Letter, 26th February, 1901. 

Tomson, Wu.—The Practical Examination of Railway Employees as to 
Colour Blindness. 

TIssANDIER, Gaston—Scientific Recreations. 

TscuEerNiInG, M.—Physiologic Optics, 1900 

Wotrs, J, R.—On Colour Sight and Colour Blindness, 1879. 

Wricut, Lewis—Optical Projection, 1891— Light, 1892. 


va) 5 : at i 


7. 4 7 ha 


a ra “oe, Sees 


NATURALISED AND ACCLIMATISED PLANTS IN 
VARIOUS PARTS OF THE WORLD. 


By JOSEPH LAUTERER, M.D. 


(ftead before the Royal Society of Queensland, 25th June, 1903. 


ACCLIMATISATION in the widest sense, as intended artificial intro- 
duction, and as unintended (natural or occasional) immigration 
of organisms, has very different results. The self-acclimatising 
power of plants and animals is also very different. There are 
plants occurring only in an area of ,a hundred square miles. 
Mr. F. M. Bailey, discovered a new sassafras tree on the Blackall 
Ranges, named by him Cinnamomum Oliveri, which is pro- 
bably confined to an exceedingly small district. Other plants 
ure found from pole to pole all round the globe. The vegetation 
of lakes and rivers, in and upon the water and on the shores, is 
marvellously uniform on the whole earth. The same genera, 
and even the identical species of aquatic plants, were seen by me 
in the Wakatipu of New Zealand, the Chuzenji and Biwa in 
Japan, the Chapala in Mexico, and the Titicaca in Peru. The 
same waterlilies (Nymphaea), bladderworts (Utricularia), frogbits 
(Hydrocharis), Vallisnerias, pondweeds (Potamogeton), quilworts 
(Isoetes), watermilfoils (Myriophyllwn) hornworts (Ceratophyl- 
lum), duckweeds (Lemna), Naias and pilworts (Pilularia), are 
growing there in the water ; plants which I gathered thirty years 
ago in the Malar lake in Sweden, and in the post-tertiary glacier 
lakes of Switzerland and the Black Forest. An European 
who comes to Australia and finds himself surrounded by a flora 
altogether different from what he has been accustomed to, is 
surprised in the highest degree, to find on the sources of the Mac- 
quarie River, in lonely places scarcely trodden before by a 


56 NATURALISED AND ACCLIMATISED PLANTS, ETC. 


human foot, plants which were familiar to his eye in the old 
country. The water-plantain (Alisma plantago), the water 
pepper (Polygonum hydropiper), the blinks (Montia rivularis), 
the clubrush (Scirpus lacustris and maritimus— Heleocharis 
acicularis), the twig-rush (Cladium Mariscus), the reed mace 
(Typha augustifolia), the sedge (Carex Buxbaumi, acuta, panicu- 
lata), and the galingale (Cyperus flavescens), all of them, at least 
72 species, have been gathered by me twenty years ago on the 
Upper Macquarie, together with European aquatic grasses, like 
the reeds Arundo phragmites, Glyceria fluitans, and Leersia hex- 
andra. And on my last journey I fell in with the same plants, 
on still waters, in many parts of the globe. 

The flora of high mountains is equally uniform, derived, 
according to Sir Joseph Hooker, from the glacial period of 
post-tertiary age, when Arctic plants migrated to the Southern 
Hemisphere. Horned trefoil (Lotus corniculatus), winter cress 
(Barbarea vulgaris), hairy bitter cress (Cardamine hirsuta), 
speedwell (Veronica), eye-bright (Huphrasia), sun dew (Drosera), 
crow-foot (Ranunculus), and many other genera are found on 
the mountains of Norway and Switzerland, as well av on the 
South American Andes and the eastern ranges of Australia. 
Grammitis rutefolia, a small fern growing on our Queensland 
rocks, was gathered by me also in New Zealand, Spain, Italy, 
Mexico, Peru and Chili. 

A large percentage of East Australian plants came down 
from India in post-tertiary times, when our Continent was still 
connected with Asia. 

There exist exceptional spots in many countries where soil and 
climate are relished so much by certain plants, that many rare 
and pretty herbs, shrubs and trees seem to flock to such secret 
places. When I wrote my little ‘Flora of Freiburg ’’ more than 
thirty years ago, I noticed such a spot on the Kaiserstuhl. Mr. 
F. M. Bailey, the first botanical authority in the southern 
hemisphere, discovered a small area on palaeozoic soil between 
Yandina and Kumundi, on our North Coast line, where in a 
tropical-like scrub he found a world of ferns, mosses, trees and 
climbers occuring nowhere else round Brisbane, many of them 
not previously described or named. The spot, recog- 
nisable from the train by the high and smooth stems of 
the Australian feather palm (Ptychosperma Cunninghami) ought 
to be protected by Government, otherwise it will soon be taken 
up by settlers and transformed into cornfields and pasture 
paddocks. 


BY JOSEPH LAUTERER, M.D. 57 


In opposition to solitary plants in exceptional corners, there 
are many cosmopolitic genera and species which are not bound 
to lakes, rivers, or high mountains, but have found their home 
everywhere. They belong mostly to the lower classes of the 
vegetable kingdom. Ferns like the Adder’s-tongue (Ophioglossum 
vulgacum), the bracken (Pteris aquilina and longifolia), the maiden- 
hair (Adiantum capillus Veneris, A. formosum), the shield-fern 
(Aspidiuin aculeatum) and the spleen-root (Asplenium trichomanes) 
are found all over the world, and the same holds good for many 
other plants like the club-mosses (Lycopodium Selayo, L. 
clavatum), the woodrush (Lauzula campestris), the self-heal 
(Prunella vulgaris), the brook-weed (Samolus valerandi), the 
Jersey cud-weed (Gnaphalium luteo-album), the purple salicaria 
(Lythrum salicaria), the agrimony (Agrimonia Eupaterium) and 
the silver-wheel (Potentilla anserina). 

Of our Australian plants, I found everywhere, with the 
exception of Europe, the following species :—The white man- 
grove (Avicennia officinalis) along the coasts, Vocos nucifera (the 
cocoa-nut palm), Psilotwm triquetrum (allied to club mosses), 
Cassia mimosoides (a small senna), Phaseolus truvillens/s (a bean), 
Centipeda orbicularis (a composite), and Zornia diphylla (a small 
yellow flowered leguminous herb), which I met on the Andes 
and which I had previously seen in the Belmont scrub, near 
Brisbane. Along the Panama Canal I was greeted by the 
familiar face of the pretty blue flower of Commelyna cyanea, 
which grows in our yards here, but occurs only in Australia and 
America. The climbing laurel (Cassytha filiformis), which covers 
whole trees in the bush, while it occurs nowhere else in 
Australia except in Queensland, is found all over Asia, Africa 
and America. The same holds good for Cissampelos Pereira, a 
small Menispermaceous medicinal plant. 


The farmers sow grain and vegetables all over the world, and 
according to Scripture, the devil sows the weeds. Some of them 
are true cosmopolites and have been in the places before grain was 
introduced. So Hibiscus trionwm, belonging to the troublesome 
family Malvaceae, as well as Malvastrum tricuspidatum and Sida 
rhombifolia, spinosa and cordifolia. I hated these plants in 
Brisbane, but greeted them like old acquaintances in the barren 
fields of the Mexican plateau. 


Eragrostis pilosa, a beautiful little grass occupying the 
spaces between the pavement stones in Europe, has also a cosmo- 
politic range. In Queensland it is scarcely recognizable ; it 


58 NATURALISED AND ACCLIMATISED PLANTS, ETC. 


looks so high and spreading and is like a giant compared with the 
European plant and not half as pretty. 


Cyperus rotundus, the hateful Nutgrass, is to be found all 
over the world. It occurred in Australia very likely before the 
arrival of the white settlers. Other weeds followed the footsteps 
of men all over the globe. The New Zealand spinach (T'etragonia 
expansa) is looked up»n as a culinary vegetable in many poor 
countries, though it contains some saponin and. is_ not 
altogether harmless. The black nightshale, in spite of its 
solanin, is boiled and eaten like spinach in Peru. Portulacca 
oleracea, the pigweed, is sold in the markets of North Germany 
aud Scandinavia. The yellow wood-sorrel (Owalis corniculata) 
has run all over the world. Many weeds have been imported, 
especially to Australia, and did not propagate much in another 
country. Ihave met with many of them in their old home, 
Some plants have followed the railway line. The evening 
primrose ((Unothera biennis) appears wherever a train runs; like 
the yellow wood-sorrel it was introduced from America into 
Europe as a garden plant. The Canadian fleabane (Hriyeron 
canadense) is also a railway line plant. I saw it on the Tokaido 
line in Japan. 


Some of our worst weeds came out as pot plants or useful — 
and ornamental plants. Governor Phillip committed a great 
mistake by importing the prickly pear from Brazil. It was 
introduced for the sake of its fruit, and has covered, as a trouble- 
some weed, many square miles in Australia, but has proved to 
be of some value in times of drought. The sensitive plant 
(Mimosa pudica), a native of South America, an interesting little 
wonder and imported as such, became a troublesome spinous 
weed in some gardens. The devil’s fig (Argemone mewicana), a 
poisonous, prickly, but very nice looking poppy with yellow 
flowers, came as a garden plant, and is now a weed on the 
Brisbane river, but it has not spread much to other parts of 
Queensland. On the Turon river, in New South Wales, it covers 
many square miles, whereas it behaves quite decently in Mexicos 
its native habitat. The poke weed or inkberry (Phytolacca 
octandra) was imported from America for the dying properties of 
the fruit, but it has spread on the upper Logan and Albert, 
occupying the whole banks of these rivers. So does the bad 
smelling weed (Tagetes glandulifera), brought from America as a 
garden plant and a brother of the French marigold (Tagetes 
patula). The ladies’ thistle (Silybum marianum), of South Europe, 


BY JOSEPH LAUTERER, M.D. 59 


has run out of the gardens and become a troublesome weed. I 
met it in the back streets of Naples. Datura stramonium (the 
* thorn apple), imported as a medicinal .plant from Hurope, has 
been seen by me in New South Wales covering large tracts in 
Hill End and Tambaroora gold mining districts. I noticed 
horses and cattle eating it; they can stand a good deal of 
the poison which it contains. 

The red-head (Asclepias curassavica) was brought as a pot 
plant from South America, together with a brown butterfly, 
Danae Erippus. It is quite naturalised in Queensland. I have 
seen it in Argentina and Brazil. The butterflies, and some other 
species of the same genus, hovered round the flower exactly like 
they do here. 


Some plants revel in a strange country, and find it better to 
their taste than their home. Lantana Cumara, brought to us as 
an ornamental shrub, has run all over Queensland, greatly to 
the detriment of our beautiful scrub-flora. In South America 
it behaves very decently and keepsits place. The leaves are dried 
by the Indians of Uruguay, and used instead of tea. It aftected 
my risorial nerves when I saw the hateful plant growing and 
attended carefully in the public gardens of Chile and Argentina ; 
but how much was I surprised when I found it in my own garden 
in old Freiburg, growing in a storm-protected corner, and ad- 
mired by everybody? My indignation prevailed—I pulled it out. 
All the gardens in Europe have it, mostly of the yellow 
variety. It is kept down by pruning, and is taken in the warm- 
house during the winter. 


Another troublesome weed of Queensland, Ageratum mewica- 
num, brought here from Mexico as a garden plant, has overrun 
many parts of Queensland. I have seen it in Central America where 
it has flowers of a prettier blue and larger than in Brisbane. I did 
not see it again until I arrived in Switzerland. There it was in 
the gardens of Zurich, highly prized as a fashionable pot plant. 
I was tempted to weed it out, as I did in my Brisbane home. 
I did not meet with the ‘Old Maid ’’—Vinca rosea—ot Hast 
India, which is naturalised all along the Queensland coast. 

Plants with hooks and stiff hairs on the fruit are liable to be 
carried far and wide and to become naturalised. When I first 
came here it surprised me to find the bur-weed (Xanthium stru- 
marium). It is a native of Asia and Europe, and when I was a 
student I journeyed many miles to look for the rare plant, 
but never found it, until I came to Queensland. In the 


60 NATURALISED AND ACCLIMATISED PLANTS, ETC. 


southern and western states of America I[ saw the plant 
naturalized. It is called ‘‘ cocklebur ”’ there and it makes its first 
appearance in the spring. The pigs are very fond of the young 
plants, but almost invariably die after eating them. 
Xanthostrumarin, a poisonous substance, has been isolated from 
the alcoholic extract. The castor oil plant (Ricinus communis), 
a native of Arabia and North America, so common in the waste 
places of Brisbane, adorns the gardens of Europe and North 
America. Other than here, I have seen it as a weed only in 
Spain. The seeds contain a deadly tovalbumin, 10 or 12 of the 
seeds will kill a man, and it is a miraculous thing that more 
accidents do not happen where the plant is naturalized ; the poison 
is not contained in the oil. Panicum crus galli, the loose panic- 
grass of Kurope, has become naturalized in Queensland. 


A water plant only lately introduced into Queensland, and 
already naturalized, Michhornia crassipes, has a pretty but short- 
lived flower and beautiful green leaves. I saw rivulets, ponds 
and small lakes in Mexico and South America, its original 
home, full of it. 


A plant which has become familiar to our eye at home 
looks like a friend if we meet it in a strange country. When I 
came down from the north of the United States to New Orleans 
and saw in the public gardens the same ornamental plants 
which grow in Brisbane, I felt myself at home, and missed Mr, 
Bailey. I missed him more, I must say, in the Botanical 
Gardens in Havana, because there were no labels on any plants, 
except on a Kicus religiosa, the chief ornamental tree of Cuba, 
and that one was wrong, it belonged to the tree in the opposite 
corner. 


The Australian eucalypts are now found acclimatised 
over a large part of the world, and even in the warmer places of 
Germany. In hot dry countries, like California, Texas, 
Arizona, Mexico, and South America, Fucalyptus globulus is an 
inmate of all public squares and gardens. I have read in several 
books that it thrives on the Western slopes of the Andes, but it 
is a mistake. There nothing grows except a few straggling 
Cacti. In the Alameda of Mexico city the chief ornamental 
trees are the high Eucalypts, towering over the whole crowd of 
other plants. Our large Indo-Australian staghorn ferns 
(Platyceriwm grande and P. alcicorne) and the nest fern 
(Asplenium nidus) are fastened high up in their branches. The 
Paseo di Riforma, the fashionable carriage drive from the City 


BY JOSEPH LAUTERER, M.D. 61 


to the residence of the President in the castle on Chapultepec, 
the ‘hill of the grasshopper,’ is shaded on both sides by 
gigantic specimens of Hucalyptus globulus. No shade however 
reaches the avenue. In Santiago de Chile, a bald Andesite-hill 
has been transformed into a splendid public garden with walks, 
rockeries, carriage drives, and shrub-covered romantic paths. 
Monuments as well as a theatre are there, and a magnificent view 
is laid out to the eye from the top. About thirty years ago the 
hill-sides were covered with young trees of Hucalyptus ylobulus. 
These have grown so high that they obstruct the view. In the 
Cliffhouse Gardens in San Francisco it was just the same, the 
Eucalypts haverunupsohigh. The gardener remedied it by cutting 
their heads of, but the trees look mutilated in the dense globe of 
branches with gray- green, opposite, obtuse leaves, like they come 
out on shoots of young plants. Another friend from Australia 
is met with before the Cathedral of Santiago de Chile. It is 
Casuarina quadrivalvis, looking well and delighting a botanist’s 
eye. Not so the Australian wattles, which, in the Golden Gate 
Park in San Francisco, are mixed with very similar wattles from 
the Pacific coast, driving a botanist to desperation. The best 
Australian wattle tree abroad is Acacia dealbata, with globular 
fragrant flower-heads and del'cate bipinnate leaves. It grows 
as well on the plateau of Mexico as it does on the elevated 
country bebind the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. 
Other Australian Acacias which I found to be in favour were 
Acaciadecurrens, A. Cunninghami (one of the nicest of the Brisbane 
species), A. vestitaand A. verniciflua. All Kuropean greenhouses 
are full of them. Our maiden-hair ferns (Adiantum formosum, 
A. aethiopicum and A. hispidulum), as well as the spleenwort 
( Asplenium falcatwm), are favourites everywhere. The fern tree 
: Alsophila australis) adorus open gardens in the warm countries, 
and hot houses in Hurope and North America.  <Aneilema 
gramineum, a common bush plant round Brisbane, is to be seen 
as a pot plant in Germany. So is Arthropodium laxum, a small 
liliaceous plant, and not at all ornamental. Our nice bush 
lilies (Dianella coerulea, Geitonoplesium cymosum, Anguillaria 
dioica, Bulbine bulbosa, Thysanotus Patersoni with pretty fringed 
petals) are to be met with in the gardenseverywhere. Cordyline 
australis, with slender stems, grows in the open air in San 
Francisco. The fleshy roots make propagation easy. 


Asa rule the Australian plants are very difficult to shift. 
Taken out of their home, they decline to grow again. There 


62 NATURALISED AND ACCLIMATISED PLANTS, ETC. 


are no grass trees and no Australian honeysuckles or banksias to 
be met with in the open gardens of warm countries. In the 
greenhouses of HKurope and America they are considered 
very interesting. Seeds are sown in summer in sandy peat, and 
seedlings potted of as soon as they can be Landled. Banksias 
are generally propagated by cuttings of the ripened shoots. In 
the hothouses of the botanical gardens in Paris (Jardin des 
Plantes) 1 saw a nice plant of the Australian cork tree ( Duboisia 
myoporoides ). The plant is wanting in many of the gardens of 
Australia. The bottle tree / Sterculia rupestris) is much admired 
in the public walks of South America. 


Many plants of the Brisbane gardens were met with by me 
in their native habitat. The pepper tree (Schinus molle) looks 
very pretty in Queensland, but it cannot be compared with the 
plant in its own home on the plateau of Mexico and on the 
irrigated coasts of Peru and Chili, where the elegant drooping 
branches with the delicate foliage and the shiny red berries hang 
over the Indians, and their thatched hovels which are supported 
by the knarled stems of the trees. 


One of our best ornamental trees is the camphor laurel. It 
grows well on the coast and high up on the ranges in Queens- 
land, and in company with Platanus occidentulis has been 
selected as a shade tree in Toowoomba, Warwick and other 
places. It looks lovely, but compare it with the Japanese 
camphor laurels above the Suna Temple in Nagasaki! Higher 
than our forest mahogany (Hucalyptus microcorys), and resembling 
it a little, are the old trees which have been standing there for 
many centuries protected by the abode of the gods. 


The feather palm (Cocos plumosa), the common palm in the 
public and private gardens of Brisbane, grows luxuriantly 
between Santos and San Pablo in Brazil on hill sides and on 
level country. There were small rivulets along the road and 
huts of the half-caste population, half Indians, half mulattoes, 
with not at all a prepossessing appearance. I thought I was 
walking in a flower garden ; different kinds of begonias were 
in blossom—too many of one species I thought, but then it 
was not a garden, it was uncultivated ground. The begonias 
had become weeds. Over all hung the feathery leaves of Cocos 
plumosa. 

Trees with a very slow growth will never show to the 
generation of man who planted them, the awe-inspiring majesty 
and grandeur, displayed to the eye by their brothers which have 


BY JOSEPH LAUTERER, M.D. 63 


seen millenniums. Most of them have been sacrificed to the 
avarice as timber and only sections of the stem are to be seen in 
the museums. 


The JWellingtonias in the Yosemite Valley, the specimens 
of the Mexican cedar (Z'axodium mucronatum) on the Hill of the 
Grasshopper, and the Japanese cypress (Cryptomerta japonica) in 
the grove round the temples of Nikko, the ‘‘ Splendour of the 
sun,” are of overwhelming beauty, whereas the specimens in our 
Brisbane Gardens look only like gigantic Christmas trees. 


During the last 20 years, man: plants have been naturalised 
in Germany which I had never seen there before. Mimulus 
maculatus, a native of South America, is not frightened by the 
cold climate of Baden. Impatiens japonica, a very pretty touch- 
me-not, with ced flowers, borders the rivulets between Germany 
and Switzerland. I saw it first on the Daiagawa, near Nikko, 
and admired it much. It surprised me to find it afterwards 
stronger than in Japan, covering a large area on the road to 
Constanz. 


Acclimatisation of useful plants means to render them 
capable of yielding the production desired from them in a climate 
different to that in which they ire natives. It is easier to 
enable a plant to endure lower temperatures than inducing the 
natives of colder regions to live in our latitudes. 


Some plants improve in a strange country under altered 
climatic conditions. The fruit-producing power of the 
Californian soil is astonishing; nearly all useful plants of a 
moderate and warm sky have been acclimatised. Lemons, 
oranges, dates, olives and grapes grow there with apples, pears, 
apricots, peaches and cherries in abundance, and of first quality. 
The North American persimmon (Diospyros virginiana) yields a 
very good native fruit. I was told in the University 
Hospital of St. Louis, that itis found very useful in diabetes. The 
fruit is very sweet, but no sugar goes in the water after eating 
it. The tree is a large one with spreading branches, and may 
be seen in our gardens. 


The small farmers can do nothing in California; the dry 
soil requires costly irrigation. Rain is scanty. The markets of 
San Francisco (as well as of Saint Louis, Mo.), sell gigantic 
apples and strawberries. There are monstrous sugar turnips 
(Beta vulgaris) as big as a man’s body, soft and succulent to the 
innermost part. Potatoes and cabbages are wonderful. 


64 NATURALISED AND ACCLIMATISED PLANTS, ETC. 


The loquat (Hriobotrya japonica) yields much better fruit 
in Brisbane than in Japan, its native country. Some plants 
produce best in their home. Nowhere such splendid custard 
apples, cherimoya, and sour sops can be obtained as in Vera 
Cruz and Rio de Janeiro. The Chinese litchis (Vepheliwm litchi) 
are best in China. The date produces well in Dr. Bancroft’s 
garden here, but does not possess the delicate taste and sweet- 
ness of those grown on the Canary Islands. Like the date palm, 
many plants become easily acclimatised and grow well, but never 
produce a first-class fruit. In Colombo the oranges are hard and 
sour, the pineapples dry and tasteless, and so is the passion fruit. 
In Japan cherries donot thrive at all, grapes are only middling and 
not sweet, pears and apples, though the best varieties have been 
selected for acclimatisation, are not to be compared with ours 
from Tasmania and the Darling Downs. At the same time it 
can be laid down as a rule that all Japanese plants will do well in 
the southern coast districts of England. ‘There is a climber 
growing in Japan belonging to the order of Berberideae, with 
ternate leaves (Akehia lobata) ; the fruit looks like a small cylin- 
drical melon; the fragrant pulp contains many seeds, and 
is very cooling, so that the fruit comes on the table in the 
fashionable hotels of the cities. The plant—if not here already 
—deserves to be acclimatised. 

Mexico produces the best radishes in the worl}, juicy and 
tender, of a pretty flesh colour and more than a foot long. ‘he 
Japanese radishes, called ‘‘ daikon,” while of a monstrous size, 
up to a weight of 50lbs., are of a disagreeable taste. 


In acclimatisation, nothing is better than experiment. 
Frequently quite unexpected results are obtained. 


The Paraguay tea grows well around Brisbane, and produces 
leaves in abundance. It is a pity we cannot make the proper 
use of it. People are too refined here. In South America they 
have little gourds, dried and hollowed. ‘The powdered leaves 
are then put in up to the margin, and sugar and hot water are 
added. Only one gourd, to which a small tube is attached, is 
needed for a company of 10 or 12 persons. They dip the small 
tube in and suck the liquid slowly into the mouth; nobody 
gets much and nobody must take much, as tube and all must 
pass to the neighbour, till all have their share. No wonder 
consumption is spreading horribly in South America. In 
Uruguay I examined the leaves of Ilex paraywayensis and found 
them to contain a much higher per centage of caffeine than 


BY JOSEPH LAUTERER, M.D. 65 


those I examined here. For the latter I had to use the ether 
process to obtain the pure alkaloid. In Uruguay, microsublima- 
tion showed the crystals well. Coca leaves are chewed freely in 
the districts of both sides of the Andes. The deck of the coast 
steamer is full of them sometimes. The shrub (Erythrowylon 
coca) does well only in high and moist situations, and declines 
to grow vigorously near Brisbane. Scrub land might be the 
right place ; the extraction of cocaine would certainly pay well. 


There are, of course, very different ways of cultivating 
the soil in the different parts of the globe. In countries like 
China and Japan, where no meat, butter, milk, grape wine, 
cane sugar, or bread is consumed or even known, the 
production of rice and vegetables is alone desirable. The rice is 
a half aquatic plant. It wants a swampy soil. The rice fields 
with the pretty plants half submerged under the water give a - 
picturesque look to the landscape. There are no fences; the 
Japanese fear God and the police. There are no straight lines 
between the fields, the borders are graciously bent. The culture 
of taro (Colocasis antiquorwn), of the egg-plant (Solanwn 
melongena), of the oil producing Sesamum orientale (with foxglove- 
like flowers), of the different beans, an1 of the large pink water- 
lily, the roots of which are eaten, make a very strange 
impression on the traveller in Japan. 


In Chile I saw the highest fences in the world. Italian 
poplar trees are planted near to each other and a blackberry 
(Rubus ulmijolius, Professor Philippi in Santiago gave me the 
name) from Europe is allowed to climb up to the high branches, 
No bullock can break through. 


The best public gardens that I met with are in Buenos. 
Ayres, in Argentina. I never saw in my lifetime such an 
astonishing variety of plants displayed. The same shrub or 
tree is very seldom duplicated. 


The citizens of Buenos Ayres are a funny people. They 
have the grandest cemetery on earth, the most magnificent 
necropolis on the globe. There are no graves. The dead are placed 
in little temples, one or two stories high. Altars in them are 
decorated with flowers and burning candles. The photo. or 
picture of the deceased is hung up over the altar and a great 
variety of plants is used for decorating purposes. _ 

In Europe agriculture and horticulture are very different 
from what they were twenty years ago. Better fruit is grown 


and better vegetables are produced. People are not so easily 
E 


66 NATURALISED AND ACCLIMATISED PLANTS, ETC, 


satisfied as they were. In my home the farmers want more 
than milk and potatoes. They now like rye less than wheat, 
brown bread less than white bread. Better products are to 
be seen on the markets. Viticulture has declined; in many 
districts which yielded renowned wine, the grape vines have been 
eradicated, as too much expense is required to combat with 
the Oidium albicans, a fungus on the leaves. I learned by my 
visit that a quarter of a century can alter the look of a country 
and the conditions for the welfare of a whole nation. 


NOTES ON THE * SCOTS GRAY” MOSQUITO. 


Culex Mucidus Alternans, Westwood. 


Puates ITI—VII. 


By W. R. COLLEDGE. 


(Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 50th May, 1903.) 


This insect is the most conspicuous »f the mosquitoes found 
in Queensland. Four varieties of large fawn and gray coloured 
insects are ineluded in the popular name, but the kind I refer to 
was described by Skuse under the name of Culex Hispidosus, but 
now known as C. Mucidus Alternans. They are handsome 
insects to an unprejudiced eye. 


Tue Eae 


is comparatively large, and differs much from those of the com- 
mon insect. In shape it is like a double cone, partly flattened 
on one side, as is seen in fig. 1. Jet black in colour, it is invested 
by a delicate membrane which rises in beaded vesicles upon its 
surface. Unlike the common variety, whose eggs are cemented 
into a beautiful floating raft, these are deposited singly on the 
surface of the water; they look like little black granules, if a 
white surface is beneath them. 

They vary a good deal in number. One lady, who break- 
fasted on my arm, depositel sixty-four eggs five days afterwards. 
Another laid one hundred and sixty, seven days after a sanguine 
feed. 

At first, by the help of the vesicles and adhering film of 
air, they float, but a little agitation causes them to sink to the 


68 NOTES ON THE ‘‘SCOTS GRAY’’ MOSQUITO 


bottom of the vessel or pool upon which they are placed. If 
they lie some time a flocculent algw of the Nostoc variety at- 
taches itself, and helps to anchor them to any object in close 
proximity. The period of incubation depends chiefly upon the 
temperature, and is hastened during close damp thundrous 
weather. The eggs of the ordinary kind may hatch in thirty-six 
hours, but these require under favourable circumstances, seven 
days. One striking peculiarity is, that if the temperature falls 
below 70 deg. Fah. in this latitude, they may lie in the water 
for many months, but still retain their vitality, and emerge 
when circumstances are more favourable to their incubation. 
On February 24th I got a batch and placed them in a cage ; 
they deposited a large number of eggs the same night. On 
March 5th, two larve were seen, on the 7th another, and on the 
8th two more. Then on May 7th twelve emerged, and the next 
day six more, and on the 10th another half-dozen ; a lull then 
took place, and on October 31st one appeared. November 6th 
six more, on the 29th nine came out ; December 4th, one; and 
on the last day of the year, a swarm of one hundred broke cover. 
Then one more was seen on January 16th. These all came from 
the eggs of the batch laid on February 24th. They were kept 
in a case to which no insects could have access, so that there 
could be no possibility of the experiment being vitiated by other 
eggs being deposited there. The last one, therefore, was nearly 
eleven months’ old before it appeared. 


Tur Larva 


when ready, by its internal struggles bursts the shell at a point 
about one-third from the end, as is seen in fig. 2, where one is 
partially extruded. It is strong and lively, and easily 
distinguished by its colour and appendages from other kinds. 
Fig. 3 is a photo. of a newly-born baby. The head and the tips 
of the tracheal tube are black, the thorax white, and the 
abdomen yellowish, and on the vertex of the head is a large 
dark spot, as large as and equidistant from the eyes. 


The mouth brushes are black and set horizontally. Four 
very long natatory bristles project from the last section in a 
line with the body. A common practice is for them to use the 
tracheal tube as a pivot, and by the aid of the mouth brushes, 
whirl round in a circular direction on the surface of the water. 
Their position is usually horizontal in this first stage. 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE. 69 


On the second day, generally the first moult occurs, but it 
may be prolonged to the fourth. The whole of the skin and 
appendages are thrown off entire, and it assumes the appearance 
of fig. 4. So great is the difference that a casual observer 
would not think they belonged to the same species. The head, 
instead of being black, is now pale-yellow, and is so transparent 
that the muscles can be traced back to their insertion in the 
posterior part. Two dark spots indicate the eyes, and the 
mouth brushes instead of being broad and set horizontally, are 
now composed of a bundle of bristles equal in length, and which 
lie reflected backwards on the outside of the cheek like a pair of 
heavy moustachios; and the tracheal tubes may be seen like 
silver cords gleaming as they interlace the various structures of 
the body. 


This first moult is a serious one for the larve in captivity. 
In nature, with suitable food, sunshine and freshly oxygenated 
water, they may do better than did my babies, for the most of 
these did not survive the change more than a few days. The 
transformation seems to cause physicil exhausation from 
which many do not recover, while some, during 
their weakness become the prey of the numerous predatory 
creatures which infest fresh-water pools. | Water bears may be 
seen boring their way through the intestines and brain of the 
helpless larve, the muscles twitching to prove that sensation 
was not extinct. Those that do survive grow rapidly and are 
distinguished for a while by their transparent bodies, and their 
size being about thrice the bulk of ordinary larve. They are 
rarely found in considerable numkers together, owing to the 
scattering of the eggs and the numerous obstacles to their 
development. Six is the largest number I have found in one 
pool. The head brushes are composed of stout curved bristles 
nearly equal in length. The inner curvature is lined by a row 
of short teeth so that each bristle resembles a comb. This 
structure is traceable in fig. 5, which is a photo of one of the 
oral brushes. A pair of these are hinged to the upper angles of 
the mouth, and they usually lie reflected against the cheek like 
a pair of black moustachios. Four sets of muscles are attached 
to them and adjacent mouth organs, and these can be traced to 
their insertion in the back part of the head. By their means 
these brushes are worked backwards «nd forwards in a curved 
sweep. The jaws are so extensible that on contraction these large 
brushes both disappear into the interior of the mouth. They 


70 NOTES ON THE ‘‘ SCOTS GRAY’ MOSQUITO 


carry the animalcule and much vegetable debris with them. 
In order to prevent the fine teeth from becoming clogged, a pair 
of mandibles, one of which is seen in fig. 6, are hinged to the 
lower corner of the mouth. These organs resemble the large 
claw of acrab. They are tipped by several powerful teeth, also 
several strong bristles stretched out like the fingers of a hand. 
These are placed so that they can sweep through the brushes 
as they are withdrawn from the mouth, and also retain the 
food before it is swallowed. In the next picture (fig. 7) 
the mentum or chin is seen in the centre. It is armed with a 
formidable row of teeth, one side only being in view. They 
project upwards and outwards. At the sides are the 
mandibles. Like the claws of a crab they can approach each 
other so as to interlock. Below them are a pair of organs of 
the shape of carving knives, with deeply serrated edges, so that 
they resemble miniature cross-cut saws. The whole forms a 
formidable armature for the mouth. When the common larve 
are feeding their brushes are in continuous exercise, but it is 
not so with this species. They lie along the cheeks, and are 
only occasionally used, The length of time occupied by the 
larval stage varies with atmospheric conditions, and I have not 
been able to rear them in sufficient numbers to form an ccurate 
opinion. A second moult occurs when they attain their full 
larval growth. 


Tue Pupa 


is the next stage. It is seen in fig. 8, and does not differ much 
except in size from that of the common mosquito. In its 
interior the body of the insect is completed, and this occupies 
about five days. Fig. 9 is interesting, as it represents a thin 
section cut right through the pupa, where the parts of the insect 
are seen as they lie before it breaks through the pupa skin. 


The male and female insects differ from each other mostly 
in the shape of the appendages of the head. The male is rarely 
seen in human habitations in this district. I have only known 
of one instance this year, when Mr. Colclough, of Wynnum, sent 
me a specimen which had been attracted to his breakfast table. 
But the females have been caught in large numbers. 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE. Al 
A Mate Heap 


is seen in fig. 10. Its chief peculiarity is the length, 
shagey appearance and peculiar curvatures of the joints of the 
palpi, with the deep fringe of hairs depending from the last 
joint but one. The antenne do not differ much from those of the 
common mosquito. It is a well established fact that these 
organs are musical instruments responding to the tones of the 
female voice. Sir Hiram Maxim states that one of the electric 
lamps at Saratoga emitted a musical note similar to that of the 
female mosquito. Instantly all the males in the neighbourhood 
clustered round it. About four hundred were counted. No 
doubt they were much disappointed when they discovered how 
grossly they had been deceived. 


THe Fremanre Heap 


is seen in fig. 11. The central organ is the proboscis in which 
the lancets lie. Closely attached are the palpi, which extend for 
two-thirds of its length. Numerous black scales are scattered 
over them on a yellow ground. At the base and tips a few 
snowy scales arise. Beyond these stretching out to the sides of 
the picture are the antenne. Their basal joints are yellow and 
globular and are capable of being moved in any direction. In 
feeding, to keep them out of the way of the introduction of the 
lancets into the flesh, they are turned up towards the top of the 
head. The fourteen joints of which they are composed are 
slender and regular in length. The bases are black and adorned 
with a slender whorl of black hairs, the colour then lightens to 
a pale yellow, with a few white scales here and there, growing 
more abundant towards the tip. Very fine yellow hairs are 
likewise interspersed, occuring more thickly on the three apical 
joints. 


The proboscis is a muscular sheath, ending into two lips. 
It is certainly an organ of feeling and may also be of taste. 
It is used as an elephant uses its trunk, passing it over 
the surface to ascertain its character. The upper surface is 
slit and in the groove there lie six lancets. Their structure 
is not correctly described in the text books. The central one, 
known as labrum epipharynz, is a prolongation of the throat, and 
is the only one of a tubular form, and is the means by which the 
blood is drawn into its stomach. Another, called the hypo- 


72, NOTES ON THE ‘‘ SCOTS GRAY’’ MOSQUITO 


pharyna, is described as tubular, but I do not think it is so. 
Like the rest of the lancets it is a longitudinal section of a tube, 
and with the others clasps the central one closely so that the 
whole appears like one organ, and as such is inserted into the 
skin; but when separated in dissection its elastic sides roll 
together into a tubular form, and if immersed, by capillary 
attraction the liquid will find its way into the interior, but if it 
is traced down to its root its flat or slightly curved character 
will be apparent. The other two pairs of lancets, the two 
maxille and the two mandibles, differ also in structure, The 
former are strong stylets armed at the point with a dozen saw- 
like teeth, and having a strong central rib like a feather. The 
sides of these lancets hive also a wavy appearance, the lines 
running at right angles to the rib. The mandibles are much 
finer, almost transparent, and so delicate that it is difficult to 
move them on the slide without damage. One is perfectly plain 
but the other is pierced by a fine tubule, to which reference will 
be made when dealing with the poison glands. In fig. 12, the 
lancets partially separated at the base of the labrum epipharynz 
are seen, ‘The flat ribbon-like form of the separated organs is 
apparent. 


Tue Vacuum Pump. 


It is interesting to trace the ingenious method by which 
blood or plant juice is drawn into the stomach. When the 
lancets have been inserted a vacuum pump, placed in the middle 
of the head, is brought into play. A view of it, with its connec- 
tion with the lancets is seen in fig. 13. The organ or esophagial 
bulb, as it is called, lies just below the lobes of the brain. Fig. 
14 is a longitudinal section of the head, showing the actuas 
disposition of the parts. This pump is separable into three 
longitudinal sections, as in fig. 15. These sections have hard 
chitinous walls, but thin down at the edges where they curl away 
from each other, and are there united by elastic tissue. Broad 
ligamentous bands unite the plates to the upper and lower parts 
of the head. By their contraction the bulb of the pump is 
dilated, and the blood rushes up to fill the vacuum. On relaxa- 
tion the walls close and force the fluid into the gullet, which is 
surrounded by ringed muscles, and so it is passed into the stom- 
ach. This pumping work is evidently an enjoyable one to the 
insect. While it proceeds the hind legs are elevated and move 
in the air with at first a quivering motion, as if thrilled with 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE. 73 


pleasure, and then move slowly up and down until the work is 
finished. 


From a lateral view, the bulb appears to be oval, and 
presumably like an egg, and I was much surprised one day on 
turning it on end to find from that point it resembled the letter 
Y. Fig. 16 shows how it appears in that position. The lower 
portion is composed of two concave plates set together with 
their concave surfaces directed outwards. Then a V_ shaped 
piece let into the top, completes the organ. ‘Thus all the inner 
surfaces are in close touch everywhere, and no residual liquid 
can be found in the pump when at rest. On the esophagial 
end there are a number of coarse branching fibres as in fig. 17. 
But what their function is I do not know; they are too 
numerous to be mere points of attachment for the gullet. 


Tue Poison Guanps. 


are seen in fig. 18. Three glands united at one end form a set. 
And there are two pairs, one on the left, the other on the right 
side of the chest. They are long in the Scots Gray, curl, and 
have a tendency to enlarge at their free ends. A good idea of 
their size is gained by fig. 19. This isa single gland from one 
of the sets. To prevent it from being crushed on the microscope 
by the cover glass, I placed two little pieces of hair from my 
head on each side, on lowering the glass the gland swung round 
until it touched one of the hairs, which now projects across the 
picture, the gland apparently hanging from it. It is thus seen 
to be about the thickness of a human hair. Those belonging 
to smaller mosquitoes are still less in size. Right through the 
centre of each gland runs a fine tubule, and attached to it at 
right angles are a series of long oval cells; they are arranged 
like the hairs on a bottle brush, the tube taking the place of 
the wire. In these cells the salivary and poison fluids are 
secreted, and discharged into the central tubule. Thence after 
coalescing with the tubules of the other two glands of its set, it 
passes up to the neck where it unites with the tube of the 
opposite set, it continues along the neck and under part of the 
head until it reaches the base of the proboscis, and there it dips 
into the centre of a little cup on the base of one of the lancets. 
It is not the large central one through which the blood is 
pumped. If it were so, then the incoming current of blood 
would divert it into its own stomach. But it unites with one of 


74 NOTES ON THE ‘‘ SCOTS GRAY’’ MOSQUITO 


the mandibles on whose root the cup is placed. The cup 
measures the five-hundredth part of an inch across from edge to 
edge and its open mouth is directed towards the body. Fig. 20 
represents it. Thence it passes into a fine tube running down 
the centre of the mandible to the point, where it is discharged 
into the puncture. The injecting power is found, I think, in the 
muscular lining of the cup, which spreads out to embrace the 
end of the poison tube, thus forming a little reservoir for the 
poison until it is ready for injection. Fig. 21 shows the tip of 


this mandible with the central tube, also the tip of the larger ~ 


lancet through which the blood passes. 


Attached to the lower end of the bulb are the gullet, stomach 
and intestines, also there springs from it a large transparent air 
sac filled with globules of air. This lies in the lower part of the 
thorax extending into the abdomen. These are seen in fig. 22. 
The stomach is very large and muscular; it is separable into 
five distinct coats, and from its lower end arise five long blind 
tubes. These contain a number of glandular bodies and are 
believed to fufil similar functions to the liver in animals. 


Proceeding from the stomach is the intestinal canal. _It is 
long in this species and is usually found contracted into longi- 
tudinal folds. Near the anus it expands into a pear shape and 
within this cavity lie, attached to the inner wall, half-a-dozen 
curious bodies each shapen like a heart. Their functions are 
not yet known, see fig. 23. On each side of the intestine lie the 


Eee Sacs. 


They are filled in the unimpregnated state with little globes, 
like two bunches of white grapes. They are well provided with 
trachial tubes. After impregnation the eggs grow rapidly, and 
ultimately fill up the whole of the abdominal cavity. This is 
seen in fig. 24, which is a thin longitudinal slice through the 
body of a female. The powerful muscles attached to the wings 
are seen in the section of the thorax. The eggs here have as- 
sumed their characteristic shape. 


Tur Eye 


like most other diptera, occupies the largest portion 
of the head, and consists of a number of circular cells 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE. 15 


closely set together, and bordered by white scales. In 
certain lights they appear violet black. The anterior portion, if 
detached, is seen to consist of colourless globes each absolutely 
perfect in contour. When lit up on the microscope it is an ob- 
ject of great beauty. There are one thousand five hundred such 
cells in the eye. It is said that each cell is a perfect eye, con- 
taining both a crystalline lens and also a separate branch of the 
optic nerve. That this is really the case is proved by fig. 25, 
which is a portion of the eye containing about one hundred and 
fifty cells. In photographing it I used a lamp with an argand 
burner, and each facet of the eye has reproduced the image of 
the lamp flame, showing that every minute cell of its compound 
eye is itself a complete optical instrument. 


Tue WinGs 


spring from the posterior sides of the thorax, extending to the 
last segment but one of the abdomen. They are best seen on 
dark ground, as in fig. 26. They measure 6.8 by 1.8 mm, and 
appear to be spotted, but that arises from the grouping of parti- 
colored scales, which are mostly of a battledore form. Dividing 
the wing into one hundred equal parts, and measuring from the 
point of insertion into the body— 


The auxiliary vein extends to 67. 
The marginal cross one is at 15. 
The first longitudinal extends to 99. 


The second longitudinal starts at 40, begins to fork at 74, 
the fork measuring 26; the lower branch, almost straight, joins 
the apex of the wing at the centre; the upper branch arcuates 
slightly, the space between the two limbs being 4. 


The third longitudinal begins at 26, sloping gently to join 
a little below the apex at 99. 


The fourth longitudinal springs from the base, forks at 74 ; 
the upper branch, almost linear, extends to 94, the lower one, 
89; the space between the branches is slightly wider than 
the fork of No. 2 vein. 


The fifth longitudinal, springing from the axilla, is thickly 
incrassated for the whole of its length; curving downwards it 
ends at 68, a thin branch shoots out at 50, joining the lower 
border at 80. 


76 NOTES ON THE ‘‘ SCOTS GRAY’? MOSQUITO 
The sixth longitudinal ends at 56. 


The second, third, fourth and fifth are all connected by 
cross veins at point 60, forming a slightly zigzag line somewhat 
clouded. 


The lower border of the wing is fringed by deep sword 
shaped scales, in bands alternately dark and light in colour. 
Each scale is inserted at regular intervals in a socket on the 
wing border; against these another row is set, about half their 
length. ‘These are crossed diagonally by a row of still shorter 
ones. This confers on the fringing scales great strength and 
elasticity. The field of the wing is much mottled by the irregular 
distribution of parti-coloured brown and yellow scales. 


THe TracuEaL System 


is well developed. On the pro-thorax are two large spiracles of 
an elongated shape. One is represented by fig. 33. The pres- 
ure of the cover glass has rendered the opening much wider than 
it isin nature. The inner edge is furnished with a row of hairs 
like an eyelash to keep dust and minute animals from entering 
the tube, and around the sides are muscles capable of widening 
or closing the aperture. It is by the adjustment of this opening 
that the song of the insect is produced. Internally wide tubes 
proceed carrying air to all parts of the body. On the mesothorax 
two more spiracles are placed. The tubes proceeding from 
them divide and subdivide until they become exceedingly minute. 
In fig. 80 is seen the network as it ramifies on the outside of the 
stomach. The remarkable way in which they subdivide, as well 
as the spiral structure of the tubes is clearly seen, if one is 
broken across, the fibre uncoils, and may be drawn out like a 
spiral spring. 


THE ScaLEs 


invest the outward portion of the body and appendages like a 
species of cellular clothing. They are light and being only 
inserted at their basal point, while fulfilling the part of 
armour, yet they interfere little with their freedom of move- 
ment. They are arranged on the wings and other parts of the 
body like shingles on a house-roof, the base of one being 
overlaid by the blade of another, the only exception is on the 
back of the head, where they are set perpendicularly. The 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE. (Lh 


pleura are often found denuded by rough contact with objects 
in its somewhat awkward movements. Lach scale is traversed 
by a series of longitudinal ribs. These ribs being thicker than 
the body create minute channels which are filled with air. 
The specific gravity is thus reduced, and they are kept dry 
during rain. The variety of shapes they assume is seen in 
fig. 31. Some are curved like boomerangs, others spatulate or 
sword-like, a few are triangular, but the most are of the 
battledore form with great variations in length and width. 
Very strong spiny bristles, yellow, and fluted longitudinally 
are scattered over various portions of the body, their roots being 
recessed in hollow sockets formed in the chitinous covering of 
the insect. 


Tue Hatrerss, 


of which one is represented by fig. 2°, are pale yellow, and 
placed immediately behind the wings. Not much is known 
about their functions, although there has been a good deal of 
speculation on the subject. They are hing2d at the base, and 
when the insect is at rest, may be seen to move up to a 
horizontal position, then slowly sink to the sides, the process 
being repeated every few seconds. Probably the motion is in 
unison with the perisaltic action of the intestines, and may help 
in directing the current of air through the tracheal tubes. 


Tur Mae 


is seen in fig. 85. Its body is narrower and longer than the 
female, from which it is easily distinguished by the feathery 
antenne and long plumed palpi. The males are usually the 
first to appear in any batch of eggs of the same age. They have 
less vigour and succumb more easily to unsuitable conditions 
than the other sex. ‘The last segment is seen in fig 88. From 
it two muscular lobes spring armed with long claspers. At the 
base of these pillars on their internal aspect another pair of 
hooks are placed with their curved points turned from each 
other. They extend two-thirds the length of the lobes. Also 
equidistant from the base of the pillars, a narrow central organ 
arises ending in a double hook, whose points also turn away 
from each other. The latter is likely an outer sheath for the 
penis, and its hooks as well as the mid pair are probably for the 
purpose of expanding the vaginal tube to ensure the passage of 
the spermatic fluid during copulation. A very excellent descrip- 


’ 


718 NOTES ON THE ‘‘ SCOTS GRAY’’ MOSQUITO 


tion of the male is given by Skuse in 8.A.C., p. 1726, but he 
states that he was unable to obtain a female specimen. 


Tue FEMALE. 


is seen in fig. 87. The proboscis is long and straight, thickest 
at the base. This portion is thickly set with dark scales on a 
yellow ground. The middle is yellow darkening towards the 
tip where it appears almost black. Over its base the clypeus, 
a semilunar plate of chitin, projects. The palpi, fig. 36, 
spring from the sides of the proboscis, running parallel for two- 
thirds the length, They are set with black scales on a yellow 
ground except at the tips and on the base where a few white 
ones are found. Above these like large amber beads are the 
basal joints of the antenne. A few minute white scales are 
traceable on their upper sides. The joints are slender, regular 
in length, with bases having narrow black borders, outspringing 
from which is a slender whorl of black hairs. The rest of each 
joint is pale yellow over which a few white scales are scattered 
more abundantly at the tip. Fine yellow, short hairs are 
also interspersed, growing denser on the three apical joints, 
which curve in opposite directions. 


THe THorax, 


which is similarly clothed, is deeply arched, white scales being 
most abundant. These are usually rubbed off on the projecting 
centre of the pleura, which is often bare. The segments of the 
abdomen increase in width up to the fourth, from whence they 
taper rapidly down. . The last one is loosely inserted, so that it 
can be telescoped into the preceding segment, or bent downwards 
to a considerable angle. It ends in two ovipositors, fig. 34, 
which are shaped like flattish spoons; they are thinner and less 
hairy in this species than in the common Culex. The abdomen 
ventrally, has the upper half of each segment covered with 
snowy scales, and the lower half with golden ones. On the 
dorsal aspect the golden ones predominate. The fore legs are 
long, mid longer, and the hind ones the longest of all. The 
femur of the prolegs is golden, with the under side set with white 
scales. On the tibia three dark and three broad white patches 
alternate. The tarsus is banded with golden and white scales 
mingled with dark ones. Each leg ends in a stout claw split 
into two hooks of equal length, fig. 29, with a tooth projecting 
beneath. 


BY W. R. COLLEDGE. 79 


In the last segment in a central cavity lie three organs, 
fig. 82. Two are alike round, and the third, slightly larger, is 
oval. They are of a very dark brown colour, have a short neck 
like a flask, from which a tube several times their length pro- 
ceeds into the preceding segment; the latter contains a dense 
glutinous material which resists the action of most auiline dyes. 
In thoze species which form their eggs into rafts, it is believed 
to be the material which cements them together; but as the 
Scots Gray lays its eggs separately, it is not required for that 
purpose, but it may form a protective varnish for them. The 
former organs are the spermathece, and in one of them I found 
male spermatozoa. These are like fine hairs tapering to a point 
at the tail, while the head portion is a little blunter, but with no 
sensible mark of division at the neck. 


80 NOTES ON THE ‘‘ SCOTS GRAY’’ MOSQUITO 


DESCRIPTION OF PLATES OF CULEX MUCIDUS 
ALTERNANS. 


Fig. 1.—Kgg, x 33. 
2.—Larva escaping from egg, x 25. 
3.—Larva newly born, x 10. 
4,—Larva after first moult, x 15. 
5.—One of larval mouth brushes with toothed bristles, x 80. 
6.—Larval mandible, x 100. 
7. —Larval mouth organs, mentum or chin in centre, mandibles 
at sides with serrated lancets between, x 125. 


8.—Pupa, x 54. 
9.—Long section through pupa, showing insect fully developed, 
x 10. 


10.—Male Head, x 10. 

11.—Female Head, x 10. 

12.—Lancets partly separated from central sucking tube, showing 
their flattish form, x 25. 

13.—Pump with portion of lancets, x 30. 

14.—-Pump in situ in long section of head, x 25. 

15.—Pump separated into its three parts, x 35. 

16.—Pump, transverse or end view, x a0. 

17.—Pump, end showing chitinous fibres, x 133. 

18.—Poison glands, x 27. 

19.—Single gland suspended from human hair, x 25. 

20.—Poison cup or reservoir on base of mandible, x 133. 

21.—Tips of labrum epipharynx, through which the blood passes, 
and of mandible with fine poison tube in centre, x 100. 

22.—Air sac, stomach, egg sacs and intestinal organs of female, x8 

23.—Bowel expansion, with six heart-shaped organs, x 25. 

24.—Long section, showing wing-muscles in thorax, and eggs filling 
the whole of the abdomen, x 10. 

25.—Portion of eye with image of lamp flame in each cell, x 77. 

26.—Wing on dark ground, x 53. 

27.—Fringing scales on wing edge, x 166. 

28.—Haltere, x 100. 

29.—Claw on foreleg, x 100. 

30.—Tracheal tubes on exterior of stomach, x 100. 

31.—Scales, x 100. 

32.—Spermathece and mucus gland, x 83. 

33.—Prothoracic spiracle showing internal hair fringe, x 100. 

34.—Ovipositor, x 83. 

35.—Male insect, x 2. 

36.— Proboscis and palpi, x 14. 

37.—Female insect, x 2. 

38.—Last segment of male, showing claspers and hooks, x 26. 


‘ Pro. Roy. Soc. Q’tanp, Vou. VIII. Prats IIT. 


4 
: 
a 
i 


Pro. Roy. Soc. Q’nanp, Vou. VIII. Prats, Lvs 


a 


Pro. Roy. Soc. Q'nanp, Vou. VIII. Prare V3 


] 
] 
; 


Pro. Roy. Soc. Q'nanp, Vou. VIII. Puate VI. 


Pro. Roy. Soc. Q’nanp, Vou. 


VIII. 


Puare VII, 


NOTES OF TRAVEL—1859-60. 


From SyDNEY WESTWARDS, AND DOWN THE Daruine River. 


By Hon. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 
( Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 17th October, 1908. ) 


Wuen I was in Melbourne in 1859, a friend, whose business 
required his constant presence in town, asked me if I was dis- 
posed to take a long journey Westward from Sydney? He had 
money invested in what was then the ‘‘ Never-Never”’ of New 
South Wales, and was anxious to obtain a reliable report upon 
the condition of the property. I had just arrived from Denili- 
quin, where I had handed over a draft of store bullocks that I 
had brought from the Clarence River, and was uncertain as to 
my next move; my friend’s request just fitted in with my con- 
venience and my mood. Our arrangements were speedily com- 
pleted, and I took boat to Sydney, at which place I was to be 
supplied with all details as to road, &c., by the well-known firm 
of Peel Raymond and Co. ‘“‘ We really know very little about 
the road,’’ Mr. Raymond said in answer to my inquiries, ‘“ but 
you go through Bathurst and down the Macquarie River as far 
as you can get; then follow the Barwon and Darling Rivers 
down until you get to Mitchell’s old Fort Bourke. Not very 
far below it the station, Tooralle, is situated. The Warrego 
River unites with the Darling somewhere thereabouts, and the 
nearest post 0 flice is at Walgett,on the Namoi.’’ Then he added, 
with a warning note, ‘‘ You had better be careful when you are out 
there, for the blacks are said to be very bad.’ I knew Peel 
Raymond, and was sure any information which came from him 
would be reliable, so far as he was concerned. I engaged George 


Davis, a smart young fellow who had lived all his life on the 
FE 


82 NOTES OF TRAVEL—1859-60 


Clarence River, except when he was travelling with me on two 
trips from Grafton to Victoria with store cattle, and on 12th Sep- 
tember, 1859, we started on ourlongjourney. The three horses 
which I had selected specially for the trip were fine animals in 
splendid condition, and proved to be well fitted for the work 
they had before them. On the first evening we put up at the 
Red Cow Hotel, at Parramatta, where I had engaged to meet a 
few friends. A brother of my own was one of them; the others 
were Dr. and Mrs. Walter Brown, who at that time were settled 
in Parramatta, and Mr. and Mrs. William Henry Walsh, the 
latter a sister of Mrs. Brown, but at that time resident at 
Degilbo, on the Burnett River. The Walshes afterwards settled 
in Brisbane, Mr. Walsh having honorably acquitted himself, not 
only as a Member of Parliament, but also as Speaker and as a 
Minister of the Crown. 


On 18th September we passed through Penrith, made the 
ascent of Lapstone Hill, and pulled up for the night at Wascoe’s. 
There, Nelson Lawson, an old schoolfellow, overtook me, and on 
the following day we travelled together over the old Blue Moun- 
tain road. From Blackheath, ‘on the following morning, we 
started in snow and sleet, and had similar weather on the two 
next days. Lawson took the Mudgee road from Wallerawang, 
Iand my man keeping along the mountainous track to the Fry- 
ingpan, and thence across the plains to Bathurst, on the head 
of the Macquarie; after passing Wallerawang the country was 
all new to me, but in many rospects it resembled New England, 
where I had resided for five years. The town of Bathurst at 
this time was not very large; it is prettily situated on the left 
bank of the Macquarie River. Most of the buildings were of 
brick, with shingled roofs, which were green-tinted by the moss 
that grew on them as they became old. From Bathurst we 
journeyed on to Orange, a country town situated under the 
Canoblas, near the summit of which, at that time, were large 
patches of snow. Between Bathurst and Orange we passed 
through Gulgong. From Orange we made a short day to 
Molong, as one of my horses was lame. The following day, 
however, we had iunch at the Black Rock, and then passed on 
to Wellington, in all 39 miles, and on 21st September we 
reached Dubbo, having had a wet ride during the afternoon. 
Here the country was almost level; the resemblance to New 
England had disappeared ; other trees became plentiful in the 
forest ; other flowers showed themselves in the grass ; other birds 


BY HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 83 


flitted amongsi the branches ; human habitations beside the bush 
roads were less frequent. We were still on the Macquarie River, 
but the country west of Dubbo was of a quite different character 
to that near the coast. Twice before the time I write about 
I had passed through Dubbo, and had found kind friends there ; 
they knew my father, they toll me, and they gave a hearty 
welcome to the son for his father’s sake. After leaving Sydney, 
tales of treacherous blacks became frequent, and took a 
more or less definite shape; two Commissioners for Crown 
Lands had charge of districts in the ‘wild west,” but 
these they visited only when compelled to do so; they 
lived —one at Molong, the other at some other pleasant 
spot, but, having at this time to visit their respective districts, 
they had combined their forces and so formed a strong party as 
a protection against aboriginal aggression. I had brought no 
firearms with me; I had still to travel about 350 miles, and the 
hotel at which I had put up in Dubbo was the last I should see 
on the route [ had to follow. Nearly every night in future we 
must camp out; the horses must be hobbled and forage for 
themselves. Under the circumstances it would have been folly 
to continue our journey without carrying protective weapons of 
some kind. I therefore visited the stores kept by Mr. Serissier, 
whom I regarded as quite an old friend. He had no personal 
knowledge of the blacks, but the tales he had heard suggested 
that persons who went any distance west were exposed to 
exceptional danger. I did not place absolute faith in these 
reports, but a gun of some description might prove useful, at 
any rate it would help to supply our limited larder, so I 
purchased a fowling-piece and powder and shot. We left 
Dubbo on 22nd September, and went about 25 miles to a 
station occupied by Mr. Christie; he too was a friend of my 
father and made me welcome ; he was, or had been a partner 
with Wentworth in the station he managed. On the following 
day we rode through country which was remarkably level, the 
timber a kind of box, which, on account of its pipiness, was 
described as rotten box. In the morning, however, we passed 
through a belt of trees which, when I came to Queensland, the 
broad-leaved ironbark reminded me of. That afternoon we 
reached a station belonging to W. Lawson, who was away from 
home ; young Morrisett, was, I think, in charge. After this, we 
camped every night until I found myself amongst friends on 
the Barwon. The Macquarie River, which has a wide channel 


84 NOTES OF TRAVEL—1859-60 


at Dubbo, became very narrow as we followed it westwards. We 
found plenty of good grass near its banks, but the country was 
dry in most places and grass was scanty ; there was abundance 
of stunted saltbush, but this the horses would not touch. About 
90 miles from Dubbo, at Youngenbill, we left the river and 
crossed in 12 miles to Gunendaddy on Duck Creek. ‘The 
country became more and more bare of grass as we travelled 
down the creek. At Brown’s Station, where was a large dam, 
they gave me as much salt beef as I cared to take, and the 
people who lived at the stations we passed were most hospitable 
and considerate. At Brown’s I learnt that the Commissioners, 
having completed their work of inspection, had returned. I had 
missed them, but was informed that they had not been molested 
by the blacks ; they had seen a camping place, however, which 
the blacks had deserted shortly before they reached it. I was 
glad of my gun, though, for although no blacks attempted any 
tricks upon my party of two, it helped to supply us with very 
fine game, and this was infinitely more to our taste than the 
everlasting salt junk that the occupants of stations so readily 
supplied us with. From Duck Creek we crossed in about 20 
miles on to the Marra. There was no road here, but we kept a 
pretty good course and struck a track near Marra Creek which 
took us on in the right direction. |The country we passed over 
between the creeks was partly scrubby and partly plain, and we 
saw here large numbers of emus and red kangaroos as well as the 
ordinary gray ones. Owing to the dryness of the country small 
birds, budgerygars and galas excepted, and quadrupeds were scarce 
and I observed very few insects. That night we camped on the 
Marra, but our slumbers were disturbed by a heavy fall of rain 
accompanied by lightning which was very vivid, and as we had 
no tent our dunnage suffered. The heat next day soon dried 
our belongings and we continued our journey through country 
which, owing to an insufficient rainfall, looked very desolate. 
It seemed, indeed, that the horses would starve ; they would not 
touch the small saltbush, but what grass they found must have 
been exceptionally nutritious, for hungry as they undoubtedly 
were, they did not suffer seriously in condition. It is easy, hay- 
ing seen the country as it then was, to realize the dismay of 
early explorers who regarded such extensive areas as little 
better than a desert. I had to think of my horses, which, up 
to the time we left Dubbo, had been stabled and cornfed. With 
the thought in my mind of what they might soon be reduced 


BY HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 85 


to, I expressed my feelings curtly enough in the rough diary I 
kept—‘' Came 20 miles to-day without seeing enough grass to 
feed a bandicoot,’’ and again—‘‘ 25 miles along the creek to-day. 
It is most desolate and wretched looking country.’’ ‘There were 
few human habitations along the route I had chosen, and these 
were of the most primitive character—small huts constructed of 
rough split slabs with shingled roofs. The floor, if it could be 
so called, was the natural formation trampled by rough boots 
into a dusty smoothness ; the openings, which were by courtesy 
called windows, in some cases were supplied with wooden 
shutters, others were open to such breezes as chose to enter. 
The furniture consisted of a table of split slabs nailed together, 
two or more three-legged wooden stools, and one or two wooden 
bunks formed of ill-fitting split battens. These huts were occupied 
by stockmen who had learnt in this droughty country to use 
water sparingly. A tin dish held the salt junk, and a butcher’s 
knife to cut it, a tin billy the tea, and tin pints to drink from, 
the bread was damper. These places they spoke of as their 
‘‘home.’’ On a previous occasion, when I rode up to a blacks’ 
camp in more civilized country, a blackboy, with extremely 
scant clothing was playing ‘‘ Home, sweet home,”’ on a jewsbarp 
as he squatted on the ground under the shelter of a bark humpy 
—I should have felt more at home where he sat, than in those 
stockinens’ huts on the Marra Creek. George Davis, like 
myself, was born in New South Wales, and an open camp suited 
us admirably ; the brilliancy of the stars never interrupted our 
slumbers, and we received no attention from those treacherous 
blacks against whom we had been so particularly warned. 


On the evening of October 1st, twenty days after we had 
left Sydney, we selected our camp on the left bank of the 
Barwon River. The channel of the Macquarie continues to 
contract after leaving Dubbo, until at last it becomes lost in 
the reedbeds which give shelter to innumerable wild fowl. Below 
these, a narrow channel conducts the overflow water, when 
there is any, to the Barwon, a river worthy of the name. 
From our camp that evening ‘we looked down into a 
magnificent sheet of water of considerable width and depth. 
Giant gumtrees grew beside and overhung the banks ; the river 
flats were covered with abundant grass and herbage in fairly 
good condition, and the horses showed unmistakably their 
appreciation of it. On the clear water hundreds of ducks and 
other aquatic birds floated lazily, having no thought of a possible 


86 NOTES OF TRAVEL—1859-60 


fowlingpiece ; numbers of white cockatoos screamed discordantly 
at us from the branches above our heads, and some of the bud- 
gerygars and galas, which were so numerous along our track 
through the dry country, were there to give us a welcome. Of 
crows and hawks we saw but few, but pretty crested pigeons 
were not uncommon, especially in close proximity to the poly- 
gonum country ; the little shepherd’s companions, called jerica- 
jerica by the blacks, were with us always. To lie down 
by the camp fire amidst such surroundings was joy indeed, espe- 
cially as each of us, according to an honoured custom which was 
never omitted when we had a sufficiency, bad just comforted 
the inner man with a p'ump Barwon River duck; and such 
ducks they were, too! George, I knew, was very contented that 
evening. J knew it was so because he gave us the song which 
he reserved for his most blissful moments. It began about 
carelessly straying into ‘‘yon blue meadow’”’ and beholding a 
‘‘ maiden fair anda young sailor gay ’’ who was going to cross 
the sea to fight ‘‘ the proud Chinee.” This, of course, ‘ lovely 
Soo-oo-san ”’ strongly objected to, but the hero must go at any 
price. A musical critic might have condemned the song. I had 
heard it many times during the last eighteen months, and on 
such occasions the camp was always in a happy mood. I liked 
it therefore, and best of all when it had come to an end ; nobody 
ever asked George to sing it a second time. Cockatoos have no 
appreciation of music.- On this particular evening they seemed 
to become uneasy, and as the song proceeded they gave vent to 
their feelings in loud screams. When George had finished he 
remarked wonderingly : ‘‘ What the jakers is they birds squalling 
at? Icould hardly keep in tune for them.” I suggested it 
might be their way of applauding. ‘‘ By jakers, I never thought 
of that. JI’ll give *ema hencore!”’ The birds had not had 
eighteen months’ training, however, and after some further 
protest they left their perches and flew wildly into the darkness. 
They would not allow us to approach them closely on the follow- 
ing day ! 


Travelling down the Barwon next morning I was very much 
struck by the appearance of a station called Nulcumbiddy. The 
gentleman manager, or perhaps proprietor, was Mr. Burton 
Gaden. ‘Tom’ Gaden, cf the Commercial Banking Co. of 
Sydney, ‘‘ Harry,” ‘‘ Bob,” ‘‘Ted’’ Gaden—these are brothers 
of his; David Abercrombie, of Commercial Bank, Brisbane, a 
half-brother. Burton Gaden was an exceptional man. In this 


BY HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 87 


country, which was fiery hot all the time I was there, he 
got up an appearance of coolness by keeping his station 
buildings brilliantly white. Along the river banks there were 
outcrops of silenite ; this he collected and burnt and no lime 
could have looked whiter. And then it made the homestead 
look clean as no other looked. In spite of the excessive heat tco, 
he had a patch of watermelons growing beside his hut. He did 
not carry the water for them from the river, but he had 
sufficient energy to tell the blacks todo so and to see that his 
instructions were carried out. | When I had passed out of sight 
of Nulcumbiddy I felt better and happier for having seen a place 
that reminded me of the civilisation I had parted with. Any- 
one, I was told, could grow melons as Burton Gaden did. I 
did not doubt the assertion, but I travelled several hundred 
miles up and down the Barwon and its tributaries without see- 
ing whitewashed huts or luxuriant melon vines at any other 
station. All honor then to Burton Gaden, to whom it is due. 


I did not stop at Nulecumbiddy as I was anxious to reach 
my destination, but camped the night below Breewarrina, 
otherwise called the Fisheries, so called because of the stone- 
walled yards which at this spot the blacks had built up in the 
river bed and into which they drove the fish just as stockmen 
drive cattle into a stockyard. It was one of the few places 
where a bar of rocks crossed the channel and the loose stones 
were utilized for building up small yards with openings from 
above and guiding wings between which the fish passed to the 
opening of the upper, or receiving yard. Captain Cadell 
the first river navigator of New South Wales, had 
ascended so far in 1858, and a board fixed up on one of the large 
river gums recorded the fact, also the date of arrival, the name 
of vessel, list of passengers, etc. Sixteen miles onwards, I 
struck a station called Haraden, which had been stocked up by 
Joseph Sharp, of the Clarence River, and was under the manage- 
ment of my good friend, Archie Shannon, whom I had last 
seen on the same river. Some dirty blacks had a camp 
near the station, and these and others like them, Shannon 
told me, were the only blacks he had so far met with. 
Whites, however, had been killed in the district by the 
aboriginals, and others were murdered afterwards, among 
these an old schoolfellow of my own whose skull was smashed as 
he lay asleep at his camp fire. I had no difficulty of any kind 
with them during my sojourn in that country, and only on one 


88 NOTES OF TRAVEL—1859-60 


occasion caught sight of blacks who would hold no communica- 
tion with me. 

Near Haraden was a stony hill called Mount Druid. It 
was formed of loose stones which gave forth a metallic sound 
when struck together; the height of this mass of rock in an 
almost stoneless country, which for hundreds of miles is a dead 
level, was I should think about 300 feet. Oxley’s Tableland 
showed up in the distance, but the course of the Bogan River, 
which lay between Mount Druid and it, could not be distin- 
guished from its summit. There was capital feed for the 
horses on the Barwon at Shannon’s, although the country 
away from the river banks was as dry as tinder, and 
I gave them two days’ rest before continuing my 
journey ; we then crossed the river and followed it down on its 
right bank. Our journey that day was 25 miles, and in 45 
miles on the next day we reached Perry and Dowling’s station, 
passing a stockman’s hut at the Gidya, and one called Bunna- 
warnah, the only habitations between it and Haraden. Dowling, 
who was an old schoolfellow of mine, gladly welcomed me to 
Prinibougyra, and accompanied me to Tooralle next evening: 
The distance was 22 miles, and in consequence of the intense 
heat and the myriads of tormenting flies, we did not start till 
sunset. The river for many miles—in fact from the time I 
struck it just below the point where Marra creek empties into it 
—fiows through vast plains with here and there patches of box 
forest, which is as level as the plains; there are great scrubs of 
mulga (Acacia aneura) back from the river. Often our journeys 
were made by night, for even where there were no well defined 
roads little difficulty was experienced in keeping the right course, 
I was told of the cold weather which prevailed during the 
winter months; all the months were summer, and extremely 
hot summer, while I was there. 


We arrived at Tooralle about 9 p.m., on 8th October. I 
had then travelled about 626 miles in twenty seven days, two of 
which I spent with Shannon at Haraden. On the Blue Moun- 
tains we had sleety weather, and snow as we approached Ba- 
thurst, but after passing Dubbo the heat began to be oppressive, 
and the last part of the journey was most trying. There was 
alinost no break in the heat, and the hot winds were almost ccn- 
tinuous: whirlwinds rushed across the plains raising immense 
clouds of dust and rubbish, chiefly dry rolly-polly bushes, which 
careered along in columns often more than a hundred feet in 


BY HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 89 


height ; and, in addition to all this, millions of small black flies 
pestered one’s life from the early dawn until night closed in. My 
labours, however, had by no means come to an end, even tempo- 
rarily. I was disappointed at finding no letters and had therefore 
to go to the nearest postoffice, which was at Walgett, according to 
instructions. Walgett, which was then a ‘‘ paper’ township, 
is situated on the Namoi, at its junction with the Barwon, about 
200 miles from Tooralle. I rode back to Prinibougyra with 
Dowling on the day after my arrival at Tooralle, and on the follow- 
ing day, he having found me a fresh horse, I retraced my steps up 
the Barwon. That night I camped above the Gidya, and next 
day reached Shannon's, having pulled up just long enough for a 
snack of the usual dainty bush fare at Bunnawarnah. 
Shannon found me another horse, and next day I pushed on to 
Nulcumbiddy, where I spent the night. My horse was of course, 
hobbled, there being no paddocks at any of the stations. Next 
morning I had to walk five miles back along the road I had 
come before I overtook him. That night I stopped at Bree. 
It was an exceedingly rough shop. The hut was dirty in the 
extreme, the two men who occupied it were equally so, and, 
horrible thought! How could the food which they handled and 
cooked be cleaner than themselves ? As for sleeping, one might 
as well have tried to sleep on an antbed, and there the company 
would have been less objectionable. I was glad enough 
about mid-day on the following day to accept the more cleanly 
hospitality of Breewun, also a stockman’s hut, and after a thirty- 
five miles ride came to Mooraby in the evening. Here was a 
store, and a respectable white woman presided over the establish- 
ment and kept everything clean. That morning I had crossed a 
narrow, dry watercourse, a mere channel for tha flow of water 
when there was any to flow. This was the Macquarie River, 
the strength of which had become exhausted as it passed through 
the level country west of Dubbo. Next day, after riding thirty 
miles, I struck the township in time for dinner. The Namoi, 
like the Macquarie, was quite a narrow watercourse, very 
different from the fine river which bears that name where the 
Peel River unites with it below Tamworth; however, it had 
plenty of water in it, more than enough for the inhabitants of 
the one broken-backed hut which was used as a store, a post 
office, and a dwelling combined, and constituted the township. 


As I had come so I returned, except that as I rode carelessly 
away amongst the ill-defined roads after starting from Walgett, 


90 NOTES OF TRAVEL—1859-60 


I did not for a time notice that my horse had taken a track 
which brought me on to the Castlereagh River, in consequence 
of which I had to ride five miles across the country to reach the 
road I ought to have followed. Bree I carefully avoided, and 
camped, without food, at a spot where once there had been a 
hut, rather than face the army of fleas which had tortured me a 
few nights before. I took a day’s rest at Shannon’s, and com- . 
pleted in fourteen days the four hundred miles I had travelled 
for one letter, an average of nearly twenty-nine miles daily. 
Shortly after my return from Walgett there arrived at 
Prinibougyra, where I was for a time time staying, George 
Perry, well known as the ‘ Overlander,’ because of the large 
numbers of stock he bought in the Northern districts of New 
South Wales and sold in Riverina and Victoria. This over- 
landing business had been overdone and Perry had purchased 
the Tooralle Station and also an unstocked run adjoining it on 
the river. By these purchases he became the owner of 60 
miles frontage to the JDarling in addition to the half 
interest he held with Dowling in  Prinibougyra. He 
therefore controlled 90 miles frontage in one long stretch on the 
right or western side of the river. The letter Perry brought me 
from my principal in Melbourne asked me to help to take 
delivery for Perry, a request which he repeated, and also to 
inspect and report on the unoccupied country below Tooralle. 
I was glad to consent to this, nothwithstanding the trying 
conditions of the climate and the flies and other abominations 
which it seemed to suit so remarkably well. William Sly, who 
afterwards came to Queensland, was employed as overseer at 
Tooralle at that time, and he and I rode over the whole of the 
run and counted over the sheep. As for the unoccupied run 
lower down the river, I had to inspect it all by myself. 
The inspection of country which consists almost wholly 
of plains with a river frontage is a comparatively easy 
matter where the character of the whole is similar. The 
scorching heat, the myriads of extremely familiar flies, the 
whirlwinds with their accompanying dust, and the general dry- 
ness of the country—-these never failed, and they combined to 
make life less agreeable than it might, under other circumstances, 
have been. The Warrego River empties into the Darling below 
Tooralle, and as I proceeded with my work of inspection I 
crossed a dry, narrow water-channel about nine miles from 
that station; this was the Warrego. ‘Tooralle head station I 
believe was afterwards removed from its original site on to the 


BY HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 91 


Warrego. No roads were needed here, for on my left the 
tortuous course of the Darling could be traced by the river 
gums which grew on its banks, and on my right the distant 
Berkeley Range was always visible; as I rode on I could 
see Mount McPherson in the far distance. I made a 
fairly long day, and at night found shelter and_ tucker 
at the last shepherd’s hut below Tooralle. The poor fellow, 
who lived there by himself, made much of me; the man 
who brought his rations, and now and then counted his flock, 
was almost the the only fellow-being he saw for months. He 
had not been troubled by blacks, he told me, but it was evident 
that some visited the country occasionally, for, beside the 
depressions which filled with the backwater from the river in 
flood time there were many old humpies at their camping 
places. These depressions were, to a considerable extent, 
covered with polygonum, beside which there were bare patches 
on which pigweed grew in abundance. This the blacks 
collected for food, and on almost every old humpy some that 
had been gathered for that purpose still lived, though in a 
somewhat withered condition. My horse, like myself, had felt 
the heat very much as we travelled over the plains, but a night’s 
rest and plenty of surprisingly good grass had revived him by 
morning ; so I had some of the shepherd’s homely damper and 
mutton, and started once more on my _ journey. The 
weather was again furiously hot (it was the twenty-eighth of 
December, and I think hot for that time of year) ; right away 
down river I travelled through mile after mile of plain, until 
about midday I halted for a while beside a patch of polygonum 
and took some light refreshment in the form of pigweed, which 
helps to cool one’s mouth and quench one’s thirst. After an 
hour or so I turned my horse’s head up the river again, and 
before night set in had hobbled my weary nag beside the hut of 
the friendly shepherd. I had had a long ride and my face was 
terribly scorched by the pitiless sun; almost the only living 
objects I had seen were some white hawks, which had a dark 
patch on each wing; these busied themselves all day in their 
search for marsupial mice, which seem to be their principal 
food. The plains were too hot during the day for other native 
animals. Even the heat did not disturb my rest that 
night. 


When I got back to Prinibougyro, Dowling was arranging 
for a trip down the river to take horses to Percy Simpson, 


92 NOTES OF TRAVEL—1859-60 


who was bringing a mob of bullocks up the river to the 
unoccupied country which Perry had recently bought. On the 
lower Darling there was no grass near the frontage, but plenty 
of the small saltbush and also plenty Darling pea. The latter 
Simpson’s horses ate greedily and they became mad. Poo? 
wretches, they deliberately walked into the river and were 
drowned. Having collected about a dozen suitable animals, we 
started down the river on the left bank where there were larger 
patches of box forest and mulga than on the western side. Not 
very far down we passed Hamilton’s station. Here was a hut of 
the usual kind in which two or three men lived. When about a 
year back Captain Cadell brought the first boat up the river from 
the Murray, these men were greatly surprised one evening by the 
unusual sounds which reached them. They had no thought of a 
steamboat and the only way they could account for the strange 
noises was by attributing them to blacks; so they barred their 
door, loaded their guns, and sat up all night expecting an attack 
which did not come off. Soon after sunrise, however, to their 
great delight the boat steamed round the point which had 
previously concealed it. Our business did not admit of delay 
and we pushed on, camping always at night, until we met 
Simpson close to a station opposite Mount Murchison. We 
were comfortably quartered that night by the hospitable owner, 
whose name I am unable to recall. 


My business in this part of the world was now drawing to a 
close. George Davis entered Dowling’s service, and I presented 
him with the fowling-piece which had helped us to many a 
good meal on our outward journey. My horses I sold to Dow-. 
ling, making the condition, however, that I should have one to 
ride as far as Molong, where I was to Jeave him with the Lands 
Commissioner. 


Near Prinibougyra some posts of Mitchell’s Fort Bourke, 
erected in 1835, were still standing. The town of Bourke had 
not an existence at that time. Many persons were hurrying out to 
secure runs in the country that I was only too willing to hurry 
away from. One station only on the lower Warrego was 
occupied; the owner was a Scotchman, and I think his name 
was Mackenzie. Of flowering plants there were few when I was 
there; the rain had been insufficient, and the only specially rare 
bird I remember to have seen was a black and white wren. 
Time does not permit of further reference to the objects of 
interest with which I became acquainted, nor can I say anything 


BY HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 93 


about the people whose country the whites had taken from them. 
In January, 1860, the first mail was run by horse from Walgett 
-down the river. 

In March, 1860, I bid my western friends good-bye, and rode 
in as far as Molong, where I delivered my horse to the Crown 
Lands Commissioner, who was to send him to Dowling, when 
an opportunity offered. I then took coach and got as far as 
Bathurst without delay, but in those good old times the gold 
from the mines was sent by coach to Sydney, and no others but 
the escort were allowed to accompany it; as there was only one 
coach daily, I had to spend a night and day in Bathurst. On 
the following afternoon we however made a fresh start. The 
roads were rough, exceptionally so in those places which had 
‘been ‘‘corduroyed”’ ; the coach was rough also, and the 
language of some of the passengers was quite in keeping with 
our surroundings. Still all things have an end, and we were 
safely landed at Penrith in time for breakfast. Thence we had 
a train to travel by to Sydney, to which good town I was not 
sorry to return after an absence of six months in the western 
districts. 


FROM SYDNEY TO BATHURST IN 1822. 


A Description, sy THE LATE Mrs’ Hawkins, or Baruurst, or 
THE EXPERIENCZS ON THEIR JOURNEY OF THE FIRST FAMILY 
OF FREE IMMIGRANTS (to NEw SourH Wages) WHO SETTLED 
IN THAT TOWN. , 


Communicated by Hon. A NORTON, M.L.C. 


( Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 21st November, 1903. ) 


In order that the letters to which this forms a preface may ba 
properly understood, the conditions under which the journey 
described therein was made must be clearly recognised. Even 
at the present time the father of so large a family who had just 
arrived from the mother country, would be glad to obtain the 
fullest information from old residents before he attempted to 
convey the whole party from Sydney to Bathurst by means of 
horse and bullock drays. Yet there are well-beaten roads from 
one point to the other, and along the whole route settlement has 
taken place to a large extent; fresh food and milk can be ob- 
tained day by day, and camping out would not be necessary. 
Besides, the settlers to whom bush life in all its phases is fami- 
liar, would always give their ready help to the wayfarers who 
found themselves in a country of which they had no knowledge. 
Such difficulties as new-comers might now meet with—real 
difficulties to them—would be overcome for them, and they 
might wonder at all they saw without being troubled. In 1822, 
however, people had to travel under quite different conditions. 
Think for a moment of this enterprising immigrant landing at 
Sydney, the penal settlement to which convicts of all kinds were 
sent that the mother country might be rid of them. The number 
of free settlers at that time was limited, and the immigrant found 
himself amongst a people composed almost exclusively of officials, 


96 FROM SYDNEY TO BATHURST IN 1822 


soldiers, and convicts whose dress proclaimed their unhappy con- 
dition. With him, he bas his wife, seven children, and his wife’s 
aged mother ; he had Jeft the country which Britishers never cease 
to speak of as ‘‘ Home,” with the expectation of forming a new 
home in the new southern continent ; but bow little he can see to 
remind him of the country and the people amongst whom he 
had spent the earlier part of his life. After due enquiry, it is 
decided that Bathurst shall be the land of promise, and the 
Government of the day find him employment, So far good ; 
but how to get there, that is the then momentous question. He is 
told of the attempts which had been made from time to time to 
cross the Blue Mountains—that formidable barrier which he 
has to cross—and failed. Then he learns that in 1813, only 
nine years ago, Lawson, Wentworth, and Blaxland had 
penetrated the hitherto unknown sterile land, and from Mount 
York had seen open valleys in the distance. He learns, too, 
that towards the close of the same year, Deputy Surveyor- 
General Evans, taking advantage of this discovery, had crossed 
the range and followed the Macquarie River downwards to a 
point 100 miles due west of the Nepean River; that two years 
later a road had been formed, and Bathurst laid out at its 
terminus. The little bush town of Bathurst had only been 
founded seven years when this new-comer was called upon to 
convey, as best he could, his somewhat large family from Sydney 
over the ranges to the place where they were to be permanently 
located ; he had also to take such furniture as they needed, 
their cooking utensils, their food, their bedding, and sufficient 
clothing to last until that quite indefinite time when they could 
obtain more. And the conveyances by which they and their 
lares and penates were to be transported to Bathurst were 
rough drays drawn by bullocks and horses; their servants were 
all convicts and their escort consisted of soldiers, none of whom 
could have had much experience of travelling over the rough 
roads they had to use. And, in addition to all the difficulties 
here indicated, came tales of hostile natives and still more 
hostile runaway convicts who claimed for themselves whatever 
they could lay their hands upon, and sometimes brutally treated 
those unfortunates who fell into their power. Mr. Hawkins 
must at the very outset have realised that the success of his ard- 
uous undertaking rested almost wholly upon himself. The result 
proved that he was not only a brave man animated by noble 
aspirations, but that he possessed abundant commonsense, a high 


COMMUNICATED BY HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 97 


intelligence, and an enterprising spirit which could overcome ex- 
ceptional difficulties by exceedingly hard work. I will now proceed 
with the narrative in which Mrs. Hawkins tells her sister in Eng- 
land of their fatiguing journey and its successful accomplishment. 
I have made a few verbal corrections and have omitted some 
short passages which referred to private matters and could have 
no general interest. ! 


The journey commenced on 5 April, 1822. 


The following explanatory memo. stands at the commence- 
ment of the first letter :—‘‘ The following is a copy of a letter 
written by Mrs. Elizabeth Hawkins, on her first arrival in the 
colony in 1822, to her sister.”’ 


““T told you in my last lester of our intended journey across 
the Blue Mountains. We have accomplished it, and, as I think 
it may prove interesting to you, I shall be very particular in my 
account of it. 


‘Tt took some time after my last letter to make the neces- 
sary arrangements here (7.e., Bathurst) for a house to receive us, 
and for us to be certain of the necessary assistance from the 
Governor before we could leave Sydney. All was ready on the 
fourth of April (being Good Friday), and in the morning of the 
fifth we commenced our journey. We had many presents and 
kind wishes from those around us. 


‘© You will hardly credit it when I tell you the number of 
horses, bullocks, carts, &c., &e., requisite to convey us, for we 
possessed no other furniture than one table and twelve chairs ; 
these with our earthenware, cooking utensils, bedding, a few 
agricultural implements, groceries and other necessaries to last 
us a few months, with our clothes, constituted the whole of our 
luggage. We had a waggon with six bullocks, a dray with five, 
another with three horses, a cart with two, and, last of all, a 
tilted cart with my* mother, myself, and seven children, with 
two horses for my husband and Tom, my son, to ride on. 


‘“‘'The cavalcade moved slowly on. The morning was fine 
and the road equal to any turnpike road in England, with a 
forest each side; but the sun is not prevented cracking the 
earth, as all the trees here are lofty and only branch out from 
the top. When within a few miles of Parramatta my husband 
and Tom rode on to the Factory for a feimale servant who had 
been selected for us; they rejoined us while we were partaking 


of dinner at the root of a tree. 
G 


98 FROM SYDNEY TO BATHURST IN 1822 


‘‘We arrived rather late in the evening at Rooty Hill, a 
distance of 25 miles. The Government House was ready to 
receive us. The next day being Sunday we rested, partly to 
recover our own fatigues which we had had previous to leaving 
Sydney, and because the general orders are: ‘ There should be no 
travelling on Sundays.’ I could have been contented to remain 
there for ever; the house was good and the lands all around like 
a fine wooded park in England. On Monday we recovered our 
fatigue, and for nine miles found the road the same as before. 
We had now reached the Nepean River, which you cross to 
Emu Plains where there is a Government house and depot, but 
beyond there are no habitations until you reach Bathurst, 
excepting a solitary house at the different places where people 
stop. We had to wait many hours until horses and carts were 
ready on the opposite side, as those which brought us from 
Sydney were to return. We could only get part of our 
luggage over that night, and Sir John Jamison who 
resides near, sent his head constable to guard the rest 
during the night. The next day it rained hard, but through 
fear that it might continue, when the water rushing from the 
mountains often makes all the rivers in this country dangerous 
and impassable, we had the rest of our things brought over. 
The next day was occupied in getting things dried, and the 
following one in making every necessary preparation for the 
journey, unpacking many things to ensure their greater safety, 
arranging our provisions and bedding to enable us conveniently 
to get at them. This being done, at five o’clock my husband and 
myself went to dine with Sir John Jamison, who had invited a lady 
and two gentlemen to meet us. There we partook of a sumptuous 
dinner, consisting of mock turtle, boiled fowl, round of beef, 
delicious fish of three kinds, curried duck, goose and wildfowl, 
Madeira, Burgundy, and various liqueurs and English ale. I 
mention all this to show you his hospitality and to convince you 
that it is possible for people to live here as well as in England. 


‘‘ T was delighted with his garden, the apples and quinces 
were larger than I ever saw before (it is now autumn in this 
country), and many early trees of the former were again in 
blossom ; the vines had a second crop of grapes, the figtrees a 
third crop; the peaches and apricots here are standing trees. 
He has English cherries, plums and filberts ; these with oranges, 
lemons, limes, citrons, medlars, almonds, rock and watermelons, 
with all the common fruits of England and vegetables of every 


—— . * 


COMMUNICATED BY HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 99 


kind and grown at all seasons of the year, which shows how fine 
the climate is. 

*‘The next morning, Friday, 12th April, we reloaded. Sir 
John came to see us off and presented us with a quarter of mut- 
ton, a couple of fowls, and some butter. I had now before me 
this most tremendous journey. I was told I deserved to be im- 
mortalised for the attempt, and the Government could not do too 
much for us for taking a family to a settlement where no family 
had gone before. I mean no family of free settlers, and very 
few others. Jiverything that could be done for us was done by 
the officers to make it as comfortable as possible. 


‘‘ In addition to our luggage we had to take corn for the 
cattle, as in the mountains there is not sufficient grass for them, 
and provisions necessary for ourselves and the nine men who 
accompanied us; in consequence of this we were obliged to leave 
many things behind. 


** We now commenced with two drays with five bullocks, 
and one dray with four horses, and our own cart with two; 
they had no more carts to give us. Amidst the good 
wishes of all, not excepting a party of natives who had come to 
bid us farewell, we commenced our journey. We had not pro- 
ceeded more than a quarter of a mile before we came to a small 
stream of water, with sandy bottom and banks. Here the 
second dray with the bullocks sank. The storekeeper, superin- 
tendent, and overseer from Emu Plains, witnessing our stoppage, 
came to our assistance. The two latter did not leave us until 
night. It employed us an hour to extricate the dray, and this 
was not accomplished without the horses of the other being 
added to it. We now proceeded about a quarter of a mile further; 
and now imagine me at the foot of the tremendous mountains, 
the difficulty of passiag which is, I suppose, as great as or greater 
than any known road in the world, not from the badness of the 
road, which has been entirely made and which is hard all the 
way, so much as from the extreme steepness of the ascent and 
descent. For forty miles the hills are barren of herbage for 
cattle, but as far as the eye can reach, even to the summit of the 
highest, every hill and dale is covered with wood, lofty trees and 
small shrubs, many of them blooming with delicate flowers, the 
colours so beautiful that even the highest circles of England 
would prize them. These mountains appear to be solid rock, 
with hardly any earth upon the surface. This land seems as if 
it was never intended for human beings to inhabit. There are 


100 FROM SYDNEY TO BATHURST IN 1822 


no roots as a substitute for bread, no fruit or vegetables on 
which man could subsist ; but almost anything will grow which 
is brought to it. We now began our ascent up the first Lapstone 
Hill (so called from all the stones being like a cobbler’s 
lapstone); the horses got on very well, but the bullocks could 
not. We were obliged to unload, have a cart from Hmu Plains, 
and send back some of our luggage ; even then the horses were 
obliged when they reached the top to return and assist them. 
We could proceed no further that night, having performed a 
distance of only one mile and a-half that day. Our tent was 
pitched for the first time. The fatigue to my mother and 
myself was very great every night after the journey in preparing 
the beds and giving the children their food, and the little ones 
were generally very tired and cross. It was a lovely moonlight 
night, and all was novelty and delight to the children; immense 
fires were made in all directions; we gave them their supper, 
and after putting the younger ones to bed, I came from the tent 
in front of which was a large fire, our drays and carts close in 
view. The men, nine in number, were busily employed in cook- 
ing their supper at one place, our own man roasting a couple of 
fowls for our next day’s journcy at another. The men, all 
convicts, not the most prepossessing in their appearance, with 
the glare of the fires and the reflection of the moon shining on 
them in the midst of the trees, formed altogether such a scene as 
I cannot describe; it resembled more a horde of banditti such as 
I have read of than anything else. I hurried from the view, 
took the arm of my husband, who was seated at the 
table with the storekeeper, and went to the back of 
the tent. Here we saw ‘Tom and the three _ eldest 
girls trying who could make the largest fire, and as happy 
as it was possible to be. Here I seemed to pause ; It was a 
moment I shall never forget; for the first time for many a long 
month I seemed capable of enjoying and feeling the present 
moment without a dread of the future. ’*Tis true we had ina 
manner bade adieu to the world, to our country and to our 
friends, but in one country we could no longer provide for our 
family, and the world from that cause had lost all its charms ; 
you and all my friends and acquaintances I thought of with 
regret; but the dawn of independence was opening upon us, 
my husband was once again an officer under Government, we 
had a home to receive us, and the certainty, under any 
circumstances, of never wanting the common necessaries of 
life. 


COMMUNICATED BY HON. A. NORTON, M.L GC. 101 


* After a little while we returned to the table; these were 
moments of such inward rest that my husband took up a flute 
belonging to one of the party, and one of our daughters who we 
called to us, danced in a place where perhaps no one of her age 
ever trod before. The next morning we took our breakfast and 
packed up our beds and provisions to depart; but during the 
night our team of bullocks and my husband’s horse had returned 
to Emu. It was thought desirable that we with two 
drays, with Tom for our guard, should proceed to Springwood, 
as there was a house there to go into. From the difficulty they 
had had the preceding day with the bullocks, they took from 
our cart our two horses, and gave us two bullocks. After a most 
fatiguing journey of nine miles we arrived; the house was 
inhabited by a corporal and two soldiers, kept there I 
believe to superintend the Government stock. Formerly a greater 
number of men had lived there, and there was a large 
room or store where provisions had been kept. A great barn in 
England would have been a palace to this place; there was a 
large kitchen with an immense fireplace, and two small rooms 
behind. With the exception of a green in front, the house was 
completely in a wood. The corporal’s wife, an old woman who 
had been transported about twenty years, with frowning man- 
ners, came forward to show us in. We entered the kitchen, 
which contained along table and form, and some stumps of trees 
to answer the purpose of chairs, of which there was not one in 
the house; several people were here to rest for the night, jour- 
neying from Bathurst’ to Sydney. We were next shown the 
small back room, which had nothing in it but a sofa 
with slips of bark on it for the seat. Here I felt 
desolate and lonely; it was nearly dark, and_ still my 
husband did not arrive, we got quite miserable. At length 
the storekeeper from Emu came to us to say he could 
not get in without horses being sent to his assistance. It was 
nearly 9 o’clock before he arrived. I went out. It was dark, 
but such confusion as there appeared from the glare of the fires, 
the carts and drays, men, tired with their days work, swearing 
as they were extricating the bullocks and horses. It was long 
before I could distinguish my husband, but I felt comparatively 
safe when I did. The old woman, a most depraved old character 
and a well-known thief, with a candle held high above her head, 
screamed out, ‘‘ Welcome to Springwood, sir!’’ He said when 
he looked round he was assured his welcome would be the loss 


102 FROM SYDNEY TO BATHURST IN 1822 


of whatever she could steal from us. He was much fatigued, 
not having had any refreshment all day. It was my intention 
on my first arrival to have pitched the tent on the green, but it 
was unfortunately on the top of the dray left with my husban¢. 
Having my mattresses I spread them in the storeroom. The 
earth was dirty, cold and damp. We could not think of 
undressing the children and when in bed it looked most 
miserable. I lay down with my baby and a very few minutes 
convinced me I should get no rest. The bugs were crawling by 
hundreds and the children were restless with them aad the 
confinement of their clothes. |The old woman had contrived to 
steal some spirits from our provision basket which, with what 
had been given her, made the soldiers tipsy. All was 
noise and confusion within doors, swearing and wrangling 
with the men without. Never did I pass a night equal 
to it. My husband remained all night on the green or 
in the cart watching. In addition to the other noises, 
a flock of sheep had been driven round the yard, and to avoid 
the men they came close to the house and kept up a continual 
pat-pat with their feet. You may be certain we were happy when 
the morning came; we got our breakfast, packed up our beds, 
and bade adieu to the house at Springwood. Mother, myself, 
and the three girls, as the morning was fine, walked on before. 
It was such a relief to get away from that place that I never 
enjoyed a walk more ; we gathered most delicate nosegays from 
the shrubs that grew amongst the trees. You must understand 
that the whole of the road from the beginning to the end of the 
mountains is cut entirely through a forest, nor can you go in a 
direct line to Bathurst from one mountain to another, but are 
obliged often to wend along the edges of them, and often look down 
on such precipices as would make you shudder. We ascended 
our carts, and we had now three bullocks as we had so much 
trouble to get on with two; but we were worse off than ever, as 
the ascent became worse. They reformed the dray, but every 
few minutes first one would lie down and then another. The 
dogs were summoned to bark at them and bite their noses to 
make them get up. The barking of the dogs, the bellowing of 
the bullocks, and the swearing of the men made our heads ache 
and kept us in continual terror. This was exactly the case every 
day of the journey with the bullocks. Frequently we all had to 
get out, and more frequently our fears made us scream out. At 
length we got to a hill so bad it seemed we never could get up 


COMMUNICATED BY HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 1038 


it. We alighted and seated ourselves on a fallen tree, and 
waited the event. We were on the side of the hill; in front it 
rose almost perpendicularly ; behind was a valley so deep that 
the eye could hardly distinguish the trees at the bottom. To gain 
the top of this mountain the road wound round along the side. 
The first day the horses got up. They were then brought back 
to assist the rest with the bullocks, but they could not succeed in 
rising from one piece of rock to another. With great whipping 
a sudden effort was made, and one shaft was broken. This had 
to be repaired as well as we could manage it. Some of the 
baggage was taken off, and with the assistance of the other 
horses, &c., &c., it was got up; the rest was got up in like 
manner. When at the top the men, who were much fatigued, 
sought for a spring of water, and with the addition of a bottle 
of rum were refreshed. We again set off, and for the next 
two miles it was perfectly dark, attended with heavy rain. 
You can imagine the danger and the misery we rode in not 
being able to see where we went, but we were obliged to go on 
till we were near to water. Our tent was pitched in the road 
and we were obliged to remain in our cart until the bedding was 
got into the tent; of course we again lay down in our clothes. 
During this very fatiguing day’s journey we had only accom- 
plished six miles. For fear I should tire you with a repetition 
of the same scenes, I will tell you that every day of our journey 
from Emu to Bathurst we were subject to the same things, such 
as our bullocks constantly lying down, while others not being 
able to draw their loads compelled us to have the assistance of 
the horses, which caused us great delay. Our provisions con- 
sisted of half a pig, which was salted for us at Emu Plains, and 
some beef ; we had flour to make bread with, tea, sugar, butter, 
etc., etc., and when we stopped at night we male some tea and 
had some cold meat. It was our man’s duty every night to boil 
a piece of meat for the next day, and bake a cake under the iron 
pot; breakfast and supper were the only meals we had. I used 
to take in the cart with me a little just to keep us from 
starving, and some drink for the baby, and during eleven 
nights that we remained in the woods my husband never lay 
down until about three in the morning, when the overseer 
would get up and watch; never but twice did he take 
off his clothes ; as we occupied the tent, his only resting place 
was the cart. It rained the next morning and everything was 
very uncomfortable; the men sent in search of the cattle, which 


104 FROM SYDNEY TO BATHURST IN 1822 


had to be turned loose at night to get water and grass, could 
not find all of them. After waiting some time we thought it 
best to proceed, excepting one dray which the overseer was to 
watch whilst the men sought for the bullocks. As the road this 
day was something better, we got nine miles to two bark huts 
that had been erected by the men emyloyed in mending the 
road, but were never empty. We were very glad to take 
possession of one of them, and our men of the other, as it had 
rained all night and all day. 

‘‘As in England you never saw anything like these huts, [ 
fear from my description you will not understand them. Some 
stumps of trees were stuck in the ground, the outside bark from 
the trees was tied to them with narrow slips of what is called 
‘*‘ stringy bark’; being tough it answers the purpose of cord; 
the roof is done in the same manner. They had a kind of 
chimney, but neither windows nor doors—only a space left to 
enter. As many men were obliged to sleep here, all round 
inside the hut stakes were placed, and across and on the top 
were laid pieces of bark so as to form berths to sleep on.” 


At this point there is a break in the story. The account 
of the rest of the journey and the reception of the party by 
residents in Bathurst, for reasons therein given, is completed in 
a letter addressed by Mrs. Hawkins to her grandchildren nearly 
fifty years after the event. The second letter is dated Sydney, 
19th October, 1871, and is as follows :— 


‘That it may be understood why I write what I am about 
to do, after nearly fifty years since the foregoing was written, 
I must explain that I arrived in this colony in January, 1822, 
and in April, with my mother, my husband and family, we left 
Sydney to go to Bathurst, a place then but little known. It 
was a tedious journey, and everything was so new and strange 
to me, that on my arrival I wrote an account of it to my sister 
in England. At that time any information of the colonies was 
interesting, and my letter was sent to the Times office for 
publication, but before it went one of my nieces copied the first’ 
part of it, and as they never received back the original from the 
office, the account the family now have is unfinished; and, 
feeling a wish for the conclusion, Iam asked if I can write it, 
which to the best of my recollection, I will. 

‘“‘T will now describe my journey from the Bark Huts where 
we had to remain until the bullocks were found, as they had again 
strayed away. At this distance of time, I cannot enter into all the 


COMMUNICATED BY HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 105 


details of each days’ journey. At length we reached Cox’s River. 
Here we remained two days ; the children had the benefit of bath- 
ing, and their clothes were washed, our tent was pitched, some 
fowls cooked, and we all were much refreshed, Nothing but the 
usual difficulties occured until we reached Mount York. It was 
awful to look on the road we had to descend, and as it was 
thought the drays would be long in getting down, it was thought 
advisable that the cart with the family should proceed; the 
children that could walk did so, and we all reached the bottom 
at two o’clock, a most wild and desolate place. Here, seated on 
fallen trees, we remained hour after hour; one of the children 
had a small pannikin, and we found water to drink. In this 
state we remained until seven o’clock and the children got very 
tired ; at that time some of the men came from the drays bring- 
ing such things and refreshments as we required. I then put 
the children to bed, some in the cart and some on the ground in 
the open ir. The reason we had been so long left to ourselves 
was that one of the drays had nearly gone over the precipice» 
and every man was required to help to save it. It was ten 
o'clock before all got safely down, and our tent was put up. 
The next morning my spirits gave way. I suppose it was from 
the fatigue and fright of the day before that had overcome me. 
I sat in the tent and cried and sobbed like a child. They all left 
me to myself for a little time and I recovered. I went 
outside the tent; it was a most lovely morning; everything 
looked bright, and the children all cheerful and happy. Ata 
little distance seated on a hill were two gentlemen, and my hus- 
band went to them; one was Mr. Marsden, the chaplain of the 
colony, returning from his first visit to Bathurst. ‘Oh,’ he 
said, ‘“‘I congratulate you; you are all giong to the land of 
Goshen.’”’ Again we started, and at length arrived at O’Con- 
nell’s Plains ; a woman who was there very kindly gave the 
children milk and such food as they wanted. It was such a 
comfort to see a house and a woman init. We next reached 
Bathurst Plains, and what joy we felt, what spirits it put us all 
in to see an open country and home in view! It was nearly 
dark when we arrived at the River Macquarie, which we had to 
cross; this was rather a serious undertaking, the banks on each 
side being steep and the water rather deep. I believe everyon® 
in the settlement came to witness the sight ; we crossed in safety 
and got to our ‘‘ Home”; and such a home after a six months’ 
voyage and eighteen days’ travelling over the mountains! It 


106 FROM SYDNEY TO BATHURST IN 1822 


consisted of three rooms—brick floors—two rooms in front, a 
skillion room behind one and a pantry behind the other; the 
front door opened into the sittingroom, the back door directly 
opposite with a ladder between that led up to a loft. It was the 
former storekeeper’s residence, and my husband had come to 
take charge of the Government stores. 


‘“‘Our family consisted of my mother, 70 years of age, and 
eight childrea—the eldest 124 years, the youngest one year—my 
husband and myself, aud a woman servant. How we all that 
night got supper, or how we all slept, I really cannot tell. Mr. 
Lawson was at that time the Commandant; be came to see us 
the next morning, and promised to do all he could to make us 
more comfortable, and this he did by adding two rooms, one in 
front and the other at the back, but it took seven months to 
finish them. In the meantime we gave my mother the front 
room and put two beds in it, and as many of the elder children 
as possible. I had the skillion, and when the winter came we 
suffered much from cold, as it was not ceiled but open to the 
shingles. Little Ann had a cot in the loft, and the woman took 
charge of her; Tom and George had the sitting room. When 
the new ones were finished we gave up ours to the boys, but we 
had to pass through that and the one for the girls to get to our 
own. I mention all these trifles, my dear children, that should 
you ever in your journey through life have similar hardships to 
encounter you may bear them as well as I did. I never looked 
on these things as a trouble. In England I had always had a 
comfortable home, and I came here to seek one for my children. 
I made the best I could of it, and was contented. 


‘‘The settlement, as it was then called, at Bathurst, 
consiste@ of Government House of four rooms, our own of 
three, a courthouse, barracks for a few soldiers, Government 
stores, and.a good garden from which we were well supplied, 
huts for some prisoners who were employed by Government 
about their land and stock, and a good barn. Here it was Sir 
Thomas Brisbane, the Governor, Major Goulburn, Mr. Oxley, 
Dr. Douglas, and the principal people in the colony came to see 
us in our humble home. We had a grant of 2,000 acres of land 
on the other side of the river, about two miles from the settle- 
ment, which we named Blackdown, and after two years we 
went to live on it. There I lived for nearly 18 years, contented 
and happy, and brought up eleven children. 


COMMUNICATED BY HON. A. NORTON, M.L.C. 107 


‘« My letter home, I believe, ended with my safe arrival at 
Bathurst, so I will end here as my life since is known to all my 
family. I will only add that my troubles then began. I lost 
my husband, my home and three sons, but I have never felt the 
want of kindness from all connected with me, and whatever I 
might have thought at the time, it has pleased God to spare my 
life until I can now say from my heart, all things have been 
wisely ordered. I am now in my eighty-ninth year. I have 
7 children, 44 grandchildren, and 59 great-grandchildren living 
in many parts of the world—England, Denmark, India, New 
Zealand, New South Wales, Victoria, and the Fiji Islands. 
This day the marriage of one of my grandsons is being cele- 
brated and he takes his bride to the Fiji Islands. The God who 
has protected me through all these long years, may He be the 
God of them all, protect and bless them for ever. 

‘* (Signed.) EuizasetH Hawkins, 
‘©19th October, 1871.” 

‘‘ Memo.—I have stated what the settlement of Bathurst was 
in 1822. I will now say what it was in 1871. It is a city, and 
has its Bishop, several churches, its Mayor and Corporation, 
sends its member to the Legislative Assembly, has its banks and 
fine buildings, its School of Arts, its market; it will soon be 
lighted with gas, and the railway from Sydney is within 30 
miles of it. Surely this is great progress, showing energy, 
wealth, and enterprise.” 


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A PRELIMINARY REVISION OF THE AUSTRALIAN 
THYRIDIDAK AND PYRALIDAK. 


Parr I. 


By A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E:S. 


(Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 12th December, 1903.) 


Tue present attempt is based on Sir Geo. Hampson’s Revision 
of the Thyrididae and Pyralidae (excepting the Phycitinae and 
Gallertanae) of the World. Where I have differed from this I 
have in most cases drawn attention to the fact, and have usually 
‘ indicated my reasons; but in the main I have followed it rather 
closely. It was indeed indispensable, and perhaps I may be 
excused, if I express my admiration for the immense amount of 
minutely accurate work which it contains. I have also 
endeavoured to make full use of the valuable papers of Mr. 
Edw. Meyrick, who laid the foundations of the present classi- 
fication of the Pyralidae both of Australia and Europe. Un- 
fortunately, except in the case of the Crambinae, Mr. Meyrick’s 
material appears to have been rather scanty. 


For the purposes of this revision I have examined the 
British Museum collection. For many species I have to thank 
kind and esteemed correspondents. Many named species are, 
however, unknown to me; these are indicated by the sign +t. 
The sign + prefixed to a species indicates that I have seen 
examples, but have not been able to examine their structure. 


I have not thought it necessary to transcribe much of the 
synonymy, which may be found in Sir Geo. Hampson’s papers, 
but have endeavoured to give references to the original 
descriptions, and to the best available descriptions of each 
species. I am unable to give references for some of the names 
obtained from the British Museum. 


110 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


The localities are accurate so far as I know, but are of 
course very incomplete. I have transcribed localities given by 
other writers, mostly by Mr. Meyrick, whenever there seemed no 
reason to regard them as doubtful; and have added many of my 
own. It has been unfortunately necessary to omit or query 
many of Mr. Lower’s localities. ‘This author appears to have 
sometimes attached to specimens received by him locality labels, 
which do not correspond to the places where the specimens 
were captured. This has certainly been done in the case of 
some of his types which I have had an opportunity of ex- 
amining. That it has been done in other instances appears a 
very reasonable conjecture, which explains some apparent. 
anomalies in distribution. 


I give here a list of a few species described by Dr. Lucas. 
Unless the types are forthcoming I fear these names will have 
to be dropped as unidentifiable: 

Epicrocis seminigra, P.R.8.Q., 1891, p. 93. 

Homoeosoma delineata, P.L.S.N.S.W., 1892, p. 265. 

Aphomia erumpens, P.R.S.Q., 1898, p. 79. 

Diptychophora torva, P.R.S.Q., 1898, p. 79. 

Diptychophora (?) kuphitincta, P.R.S.Q., 1898, p. 80. 

Fam. THYRIDIDAE. 

Palpi slender ; maxillary palpi absent; proboscis present. 
Forewing with vein 1a forming a fork with 18; 5 from, or from 
near lower angle of cell; 6 to 11 usually from the cell. Hind- 
wing with vein lc absent; 5 usually from near lower angle of 
cell; 8 approximated to 7 at upper angle of cell, or approxim- 
ated to or anastomosing with it after the angle. (Hampson.) 

A small family allied to the Pyralidae and mostly confined. 
to the tropics. Some of the species are very variable. 

a. Hindwings with vein 5 from near lower angle of cell. 

s. Forewings with 8 and 9 stalked ... 1. Hypolamprus. 
B.B. Forewings with all veins separate 2. Rhodoneura. 
aa. Hindwings with 5 from middle of cell 8. Adduea. 

Gen. 1. Hypotamprus, Hmps. 

Hypolamprus, Hmps., Moths Ind. I p. 864. P.Z.S., 1897, 
p. 614. 

HYPOLAMPRUS MARGINEPUNCTALIS. 
marginepunctalis, Leech. 

Hypolamprus pallescens, Hmps., P.Z.S., 1897, p. 614. 

N.Q., Cooktown, Cardwell. N.W.A. (Hampson). Also 
from Louisiades, Borneo, Japan and India. 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. ETE 


+HYPOLAMPRUS COSTISCRIPTUS. 
Pharambara costiscripta, Warr., Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. (6), 
Xvii. p. 209. 
Queensland (Warren). Also from Louisiades and New 


Guinea. 
HYPOLAMPRUS HEMICYCLUS. 


Siculodes hemicycla, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1886, p. 216. 
Q., Brisbane. Also from Fiji. 

Gen 2. RHOopONEURA. 
Rhedoneura, Gn. HUmps., P.Z.S. 1897, p, 615. 


I do not think the distinction given by Hampson between 
this genus and Striglina, Gu., which he bases on the origin of 
veins 9 and 10 of the forewings to be satisfactory in practice. 
In his definition of Rhodonewra be describes the tibiae as smooth- 
scaled, but I find them to be hairy in several of the species 
included by him in the genus. The genus is a very large one 
and may prove to be divisible by trustworthy characters, but it 
would be premature to make the attempt in this paper, 


RHODONEURA PYRRHATA. 


Arhodia pyrrhata, Wik., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxxv., p. 1575. 

Striglina pyrrhata, Meyr., Tr. K.S., 1887, p. 199. 

Q., Brisbane; N.S.W., Sydney; V., Warragul, Gisborne. 

RHODONEURA CENTIGINOSA. 

Striglina centiginosa, Luc., P.R.S.Q., 1898, p. 81. 

gf Q@ 21-28 mm. Head, palpi, antennae, thorax and 
abdomen, pale ochreous-reddish. Legs, ochreous-reddish, tarsj 
annulated with ochreous-whitish. Forewings triangular, costa 
straight, apex tolerably acute, termen slightly sinuate beneath 
apex, strongly bowed on vein 4, excavated above tornus; pale 
ochreous-reddish, or rarely grey, with ochreous-reddish strigulae, 
or rarely with fuscous strigulae ; costa narrowly whitish-ochreous 
more or less strigulated with dull reddish ; sometimes a reddish, 
more rarely a fuscous terminal line; cilia whitish more or less 
mixed with fuscous. Hindwings with termen rounded towards 
apex, nearly straight towards tornus; colour, strigulation,. 
and cilia as forewings. Underside as upper, but fore- 
wings with a large dark fuscous tornal blotch, strigulated 
with reddish, and hindwings with a dark fuscous spot beneath 
mid-costa. 

Var. An interrupted more or less developed median fuscous. 
band in both wings, in forewings angulated. 

Type in Coll. Lucas. 


112 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


N.Q., Townsville; Q., Brisbane. From December to 


February. 
RHODONEURA CYPHOLOMA, 2. Sp. 


xudorwpos, With bowed margin. 

9? 29 mm. Head and thorax pile-grey. Paipi ochreous- 
fuscous. Antennae grey. Abdomen ochreous-grey, base of 
dorsum tinged with reddish. Legs ochreous-fuscous, irrorated, 
and tarsi annulated with whitish. Forewings triangular, costa 
straight, apex tolerably acute, termen slightly sinuate beneath 
apex, strongly bowed on vein 4, excavated above tornus; pale- 
grey strigulated with darker grey and tinged with pale-redldish 
along veins; costa narrowly ochreous-whitish with numerous 
small bars of mixed blackish and pale reddish; cilia bases 
reddish, apices whitish barred with fuscous. Hindwings with 
termen slightly rounded ; colour and cilia as forewings. Under- 
side as upperside, but centre of Giscs with darker fuscous and 
reddish strigulae. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

Q., Brisbane, in November ; one specimen. 

RHODONEURA SCITARIA. 

Drepanodes scitaria, Wik., Brit. Mus. Cat. XXVI., p. 1488. 

(2) Striglina stramentaria, Lue , P.B.S.Q., 1898, p. 81. 

N.Q., Thursday Island, Geraldton, Townsville. Q., Bris- 
bane, Mount Tambourine. Also from New Guinea, Solomons, 
Fiji, Borneo, Formosa, Japan, Amur, Ceylon and India. 

+} RHODONEURA GLAREOLA. 

Siculodes glareola, F. and R., Reise Nov., Pl. 134, f. 11. 

Attributed to Australia by Hampson. I do not know on 
what authority. Also from Java, Borneo, Ceylon and India. 

RHODONEURA MYRSALIS. 

Pyralis myrsusalis, Wik., Brit. Mus. Cat. XIX, p. 892. 

A very variable species in coloration and in the presence or 
absence of byaline spots on forewings. 

N.Q., Townsville, in January and February ; six specimens 
received from Mr. F. P. Dodd. Also according to Hampson 
from the tropical zone of both hemispheres. 

RHODONEURA SEMITESSELLATA. 
semitessellata, W1k., J. Linn. Soc. VIL., p. 73. 
Q., Brisbane, one specimen in February, Also from Borneo 


and India. 
++ RHODONEURA HYALOSPILA. 


Siculodes hyalospila, Low, EE: R.8.58.A., 1894, p- 87. 
Q., South Barnard Island. 


BY A. FEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 113 


RHODONEURA THEORINA. 
Siculodes theorina, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1887, p. 200. 
N.Q., Geraldton (Johnstone River). 


| RHODONEURA DISSIMULANS. 
dissimulans, Warr, Aun. Mag. Nat. Hist (6) XVII., p. 227. 
N.Q., Cooktown. Also from New Guinea, Bali, Borneo, 
Malay Peninsula and India. 
| RHODONEURA AURATA. 
Pharambara aurata, Butl., Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist (5), X., 
p. 233. 
Siculodes bydreuetis, Meyr, P..S., N.S.W., 1886, p. 258. 
| RHODONEURA CRYPSIRIA. 
Pharambara reticulata, Butl., Tr. E.S. 1886, p. 420, praeoce. 
Siculodes crypsiria, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1887, p. 201. 
Q., Peak Downs, Duaringa, 
+} RHODONEURA ALBIFERALIS. 

Pyralis albijeralis, Wik., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxxiv., p. 1524. 
N.Q. Cooktown. Also from New Guinea and Batchian. 
RHODONEURA IRIAS. 

Striglina irias, Meyr., Tr. &.8. 1887, p. 199. 
Q., Rockhampton, Gayndah, Brisbane, Dalby. 
| RHODONEURA POLYGRAPHALIS. 
Pyralis(?) polygraphalis, Wik., Brit. Mus. Cat. XXXIV., 
p. 1240. 
Siculodes rhythmica, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1887, p. 201. 
N.A., Port Darwin. Queensland (Hampson). Also from 
Solomons, Ceylon, and India. 
RHODONEURA FURCIFERA. 
furcifer, Hmps. 
N.Q., Townsville. Q., Brisbane. 
Gen. 8. ADDAEA. 
Addaca. Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. XXXIV., p. 1201. Hmps. 
P.492,01897, p. 632. 
Mesopempta, Meyr., Tr. E.S., 1886, p 217. 
ADDAEA SUBTESSELLATA. 
Addaea subtessellata, W1k., Brit. Mus. Cat. XXXIV., p. 1201. 
Q., Nambour, Brisbane, Mount Tambourine. Walker’s 
locality for this species (Swan River, West Australia), is an error. 
ADDAEA CHAXIDOTIS 20m nov. 
Xapiowris, cheerful. 
Pyralis (?) polygraphalis, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. XXXIV., 
p. 1245, praeoce. 
H 


114 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


A variable species in colour and details of marking. Walker 
has used the same specific name in the genus Pyralis twice 
within a few pages. 

N.Q., Geraldton (Johnstone River), Townsville. Walker 
has made the same error in the locality of this species as with 
regard to the preceding and many others collected by the late Mr. 
Diggles. 

Also from Solomons and Borneo. 

Fam. PYRALIDAE. 

Proboscis and maxillary palpi usually well developed ; 
frenulum present. Forewing with vein 14 usually free, some- 
times forming a fork with 18; 1c absent; 5 from near lower 
angle of cell; 8, 9 almost always stalked. Hindwing with veins 
la, B, c present; 5 almost always from near lower angle of cell ; 
8 approximated to 7 or anastomosing with it beyond the cell 
(Hampson). 

An immense family especially well represented in warm 
regions, where it rivals in number the Noctuidae and Geometridae. 
The tabulation of the sub-families will be given with the con- 
cluding instalment of this revision. 

Susram. PHYCITINAE. 

A very large group, the species being most numerous within 
or near the tropics. They are for the most part of small size 
and obscure in colour and marking. Species structurally 
different are often superficially very similar. It should be 
recognised that descriptions of species in this group are quite 
useless unless accompanied by accurate structural determination. 
The classification of the sub-family by neural characters is for 
the most part easy aud natural, but the group containing the 
large genera Phycitu, Nephopteryx, and Hpicrocis forms an 
exception. The definitions I have adopted of these genera I 
regaid as merely provisional. 

I have unfortunately not been able to consult Ragonot’s 
great work on the Phycitinue and Gallerianae, and I have 
probably committed many omissions and not a few errors in 
consequence. The deficiency has been partly supplied by the 
tabulation in Hampson’s Moths of India, and by much generous 
assistance received from this author in the determination of 
species. 

For the convenience of study I have divided the tabulation 
of the genera into three section. The first of these corresponds 
to the Anerastianae of Hampson, which I am not inclined to 
regard as a distinct subfamily. 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 115 


I have not been able to find the references for some of the 

generic and specific names. 

a. Tongue minute or absent (Anerastianae, Hampson). 

B. Palpi well-developed, projecting above or beyond frons. 
c. Hindwings with vein 5 absent. 
p. Forewings with vein 5 absent. 

gE. Forewings with 8,9, 10 stalked ... 1. Hypsotropha, 
EE. Forewings with 10 separate. 


F. Palpi ascending san fe ... 8. Ampycophora. 
FF. Palpi porrect a ... 4. Anerastia. 
pp. Forewings with 4 and 5 aiallcedi 
gE. Palpi ascending one Ber ... 5. Saluria. 
EE. Palpi porrect... bas ee ... 6. Powadia. 
cc. Hindwings with vein 5 present. 
p. Palpi ascending ase Ber sin 8. Panta. 
pp. Palpi porrect . “as 9. Polyocha. 
BB. Palpi short, aleeely mapicecst ts ane 
not nearly reaching vertex... .. 10. Anerastidia. 


The genera Fissifrontia and raya pee are not included in 
this tabulation, as I do not know their characters. 


Gen. 1. Hypsorropna. 


Hypsotropha, Zel., Isis., 1848, p. 591. Hmps., Moths Ind. 

iv., p. 54. 
HYPSOTROPHA PLEUROSTICHA, 2. Sp. 

mXevpootixos, With a costal line. 

3 21 mm. Head fuscous. Palpi long (4), porrect, ter- 
minal joint slightly down-curved ; fuscous, beneath whitish. 
Antennae ochreous-whitish ; in g with basal joint thickened 
with a short tooth on onter side of distal end, basal joints 
beyond this with long pectinations, terminal half simple, ciliated. 
Thorax whitish, anteriorly fuscous. Abdomen ochreous; tuft 
whitish. Legs fuscous; posterior pair mixed with whitish. 
Forewings narrow-elongate, apex rounded, somewhat dilated 
posteriorly ; costa nearly straight, apex rounded, termen 
obliquely rounded; whitish sparsely irrorated with fuscus ; 
base of costa fuscous to}; a broad subcostal streak from base 
to apex, upper edge defined, lower suffused; a suffused out- 
wardly oblique line from streak at + to dorsum at 4; and an 
inwardly oblique similar line from streak at 2 to dorsum at #; 
a fine interrupted line close to termen; cilia whitish. Hind- 
wings with termen slightly sinuate, whitish; a fine fuscous 
terminal line obsolete towards tornus ; cilia whitigh. 


116 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


Type in Coll. Turner. 
N.Q., Townsville, in September; one specimen. 
HYPSOTROPHA ICASMOPIS, 2. Ss 

ELKASHA, & likeness. . 

g 18 mm. Head fuscous. Palpi long (4), fuscous, 
porrect, terminal joint slightly down-curved. Antennae fuscous; 
in $ basal joint thickened but not toothed, shaft beyond basal 
joint expanded antero-posteriorly and somewhat twisted, beyond 
this simple, ciliated. Thorax whitish, anteriorly fuscous. 
Abdomen whitish, base of dorsum ochreous. Legs fuscous. 
Forewings narrow-elongate, not dilated, costa rather strongly 
arched, apex round-pointed, termen slightly rounded, very 
oblique; whitish irrorated with fuscous and pale reddish; a 
well-defined dark-fuscous costal streak to + continued by 
scattered scales nearly to apex; a subcostal streak from base to 
apex, narrow at extremities, broad in middle, upper edge defined, 
lower suffused ; a fuscous spot above + dorsum ; an interrupted 
inwardly oblique fuscous line from streak at $ to dorsum at 3; 
a terminal series of fuscous dots; cilia whitish. Hindwings 
rather narrow but broader than forewings, termen slightly 
sinuate ; whitish, towards apex greyish; cilia whitish. 

At first sight this presents a very deceptive resemblance to 
the preceding, though the male antennae and shape of wings 
are quite different. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

N.Q. Townsville, in January ; one specimen received from 
Mr. F. P. Dodd. 


HYPSOTROPHA EURYZONELLA. 

euryzonella, Meyr. 

Very similar to H. pleurosticha but g antennae ciliated. 

N.Q., Thursday Island, Townsville; N.W.A., Roeburne. 

+ HYPSOTROPHA PAPUASELLA. 
papuasella, Rag. 
HYPSOTROPHA RHODOSTICHA, 2. Sp. 

podostixos, rosy-streaked. 

2, 14-20 TTL. Head and thorax ochreous whitish 
pinkish tinged. Palpi long (4), porrect, terminal joint down- 
curved. Antennae ochreous-whitish. Abdomen, whitish, base 
of dorsum ochreous. Legs whitish; anterior pair, pinkish- 
fuscous. Forewings elongate, costa gently arched, apex round- 
pointed, termen obliquely rounded; pinkish; veins outlined 
with whitish; cilia pinkish, bases whitish. Hindwings with 
termen rounded ; whitish; cilia whitish. 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 117 


Very similar in coloration to Anerastria virginella, Meyr. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

Q., Brisbane, in March ; eight specimens. 

HYPSOTROPHA ZOPHOPLEURA, 2. Sp). 

CoporAevpos, with dark costa. 

S 20 ILM. Head, thorax and palpi fuscous. Antennae 
fuscous ; in 3 slightly serrate, minutely ciliated (4). Abdomen 
ochreous fuscous. Legs fuscous. Forewings moderate, costa 
rather strongly arched, apex rounded, termen obliquely rounded, 
dull, pinkish; base aud costa broadly suffused with fuscous ; 
a fuscous dot on dorsum at +; several fuscous dots on termen ; 
cilia pinkish. Hindwings with termen rounded; whitish ; cilia 
whitish, at apex grey. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

Q., Burpengary, near Brisbane; one specimen. 

HYPSOTROPHA ACIDNIAS, 2. Sp. 

axuovos, weak, feeble. 

¢ 12 mm. Head and thorax ochreous-whitish with some 
fuscous scales. Palpi long (4), porrect; ochreous-whitish. 
Antennae whitish; in ¢ simple, slightly serrate towards apices, 
shortly ciliated (4). Abdomen ochreous-whitish. Legs ochreous- 
whitish; anterior pair fuscous. Forewings narrow-elongate, 
somewhat dilated posteriorly, apex rounded, termen obliquely 
rounded ; ochreous-whitish sparsely irrorated with dark fuscous, 
especially along veins; dark fuscous dots above dorsum at 4 
and 2, and a larger dot beneath end of cell; cilia whitish. 
Hindwings with termen rounded ; whitish ; cilia whitish. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

N.Q., Townsville in October ; one specimen received from 


Mr. F. P. Dodd. 


Gen, 2. FossirRontia. 

Fossifrontia, Hmps. 
| FOSSIFRONTIA LEUCONEURELLA, 

Fossifrontia leuconeurella, Hmps. 
N.Q., Cooktown. 

Gen. 3. AMPYCOPHORA. 
Ampycophora, Meyr., P.LU.S.N.S.W., 1882, p. 158. 

+ AMPYCOPHORA APOTOMELLA. 
Pempelia apotomella, Meyr., P.U.S.N.5.W., 1879, p. 224. 
Q.. Duaringa. 
AMPYCOPHORA HAPLOSCHEMA, 2. S)). 
amocxnpos, Of simple pattern. 
f 20 mm. Head and thorax fuscous. Palpi (2), erect, 
exceeding vertex, fuscous. Antennae fuscous; in ¢ with basal 


118 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


joint dilated and with a small tooth on outer side of distal end, 
beyond basal joint strongly dilated antero-posteriorly, thence 
simple, towards apex slightly serrate, ciliated. Abdomen 
ochreous-whitish, base of dorsum ochreous. Legs, anterior 
pair fuscous [middle and posterior pair broken]. Forewings 
narrow-elongate, scarcely dilated, apex rounded, termen 
obliquely rounded; fuscous, towards dorsum paler; a white 
costal streak from base to apex, attenuated at extremities ; cilia 
pale fuscous. Hindwings with termen slightly wavy; whitish, 
towards apex greyish ; cilia whitish with a faint grey line at 4. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

Q)., Ballandean, near Stanthorpe, in February; one 


specimen. 
Gen. 4. ANERASTRIA. 


Anerastria, Hb., Verz., p, 867. Meyr., P.L.8.N.8.W., 
1882, p. 160. Hmps., Moths Ind. IV., p. 55. 


ANERASTRIA ENERVELLA. 
enervella, Rag. 
N.Q., Cooktown. Q., Nambour, in December; one speci- 
men. N.W.A., Sherlock River. Also from Louisiades. 
ANERASTRIA VIRGINELLA. 
Anerestria virginella, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W., 1880, p. 283. 
This species is so similar to Hypsotropha rhodosticta, Turn., 
that it must be distinguished by structural characters. 
N.Q., Townsville. Q., Peak Downs, Duaringa, Brisbane, 
Stradbroke Island. 
ANERASTRIA PULVERULELLA. 
Anerastria pulverulella, Hmps., Moths Ind. IV., p. 56. 
My example has been identified by Sir George Hampson. 
It does not appear to correspond quite exactly to the description. 
N.Q., Townsville, in April; one specimen received from 
Mr. F. P. Dodd. Also from Ceylon. 
++ ANERASTRIA METALLACTIS. 
Anerastria metallactis, Meyr, Tr. E.S. 1887, p. 262. 
N.S.W. Bathurst, Meyrick. 
+ ANERASTRIA BISERIELLA. 
Anerastria biseriella, Hmps. 
N.Q. Cooktown; N.W.A. Sherlock River. 
+ ANERASTRIA METAMELANELLA. 


Anerastria metamelanella, Hmps. 


N.Q. Geraldton. 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 119 


|| ANERASTRIA PSAMATHELLA. 

Anerastria psamathella, Meyr, P.L.8.N.S.W. 1880, p. 284. 

Anerastria nitens, Butl., Tr. E.8. 1886, p. 440. 

Q., Peak Downs, Brisbane; N.S.W. Sydney; V., Fernshaw. 

ANERASTRIA MINORALIS. 

Anerastia minoralis, Low., Tr. R.S.8.A. 1908, p. 52. 

gf 13 mm. Antennae dentate, shortly ciliated (4), basal 
joint with a slight apical posterior tooth. Forewings whitish ; 
a pure white costal streak narrowing at base and apex; defined 
beneath by a median fuscous streak, which is suffused on its 
dorsal aspect. Hindwings whitish. 

These particulars are noted from the type. 

N.Q. Mackay ? (Lower). 

+{+ ANERASTRIA XIPHOMELA. 

Anerastria wiphimela, Low., Tr. R.S.S.A. 1908, p. 52. 

I have examined a specimen supposed to be the type of this 
species. It is in perfect condition, but does not correspond in 
detail to Mr. Lower’s description. Furthermore, it belongs to 
the genus Poujadia, and Sir Geo. Hampson, who examined Mr. 
Lower’s types, is hardly likely to have made a mistake as to the 
genus. I cannot therefore accept it as the type, although so 
labelled. 


ANERASTRIA EURYSTICHA, i. Sp. 

evpuotixos, With broad line. 

dg 19 mm. Head fuscous. Palpi long (8), porrect, 
terminal joint down-curved ; fuscous. Antennae fuscors; in go 
with basal joint enlarged, shaft beyond basal joint dilated 
antero-posteriorly, thence simple with very short ciliations. 
Thorax fuscous. Abdomen ochreous, sides and apex pale 
fuscous. Legs fuscous. Forewings narrow elongate, posteriorly 
dilated, costa moderately arched ; apex rounded, termen 
obliquely rounded; whitish, irrorated with fuscous; a fuscous 
streak on costa from base to middle, posteriorly suffused ; a 
median fuscous streak from base to apex, dilated towards 
termen, upper edge defined, lower suffused ; cilia whitish. 
Hindwings with termen rounded ; whitish towards apex tinged 
with grey; cilia whitish. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

N.Q., Townsville, in January; one specimen received from 
Mr. F. P. Dodd. 

Gen. 5. Sa vuria. 
Saluria, Rag. 
t+ SALURIA NEOTOMELLA. 
Saluria neotomella, Rag. 


120 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


SALURIA RHODOESSA. 
podoers, FOsy. 

ft § 28-29 mm. Head pale purplish fuscous.  Palpi 
pale purplish fuscous ascending‘ in g moderately long (2), 
in 2 very long (5). Antennae purplish fuscous, towards apices 
whitish ; in § with basal joint dilated, shaft beyond basal joint 
much dilated, antero-posteriorly shortly ciliated (4+). Thorax 
reddish ochreous. Abdomen ochreous, at base and apex whitish. 
Legs whitish, tinged with pink; anterior pair fuscous. Fore- 
wings narrow—elongate, not dilated, costa moderately arched, 
apex rounded, termen obliquely rounded ; rosy pink with a few 
scattered dark fuscous scales; a conspicuous white costal streak, 
attenuated at extremeties and irrorated with purplish scales 
towards costal edge; a narrow dark fuscous line from base to 
apex limits this beneath dividing it from a broad suffused 
ochreous streak from base nearly to termen, giving off some fine 
streaks along veins towards termen; several minute dark 
fuscous terminal dots; cilia pink. Hindwings with termen 
slightly wavy; whitish; a fine grey terminal line from apex 
not reaching tornus ; cilia whitish, with a fine grey line near 
bases at apex. 

Type in Coll. Turner 

N.Q., Townsville, in March; three specimens received from 
Mr. F. P. Dodd. 

Gen. 6. Pousapra. 

Poujadia, Rag., Nouv. Gen., p. 42 {1888). Hmps., Moths 
Ind. iv., p. 58. 

POUJADIA ERODELLA. 

Poujadia erodella, Rag. 

N.Q., Townsville, in September; one specimen received 
from Mr. F. P. Dodd. 

POUJADIA OPIFICLLLA. 

opisicella, Zel. 

My examples are females, and it would be desirable to 
examine the male to make out the species with certainty. 

N.Q., Townsville, in December and April; two specimens 
received from Mr. F. P. Dodd. 

POUJADIA CALLIRRHODA, 2. Sp. 

kaA\tppodos, beautifully rosy. 

@ 28 mm. Head, thorax, and palpi pink. Antennae 
pink, towards apices whitish. Abdomen whitish. Legs whitish, 
partly pinkish-tinged. Forewings elorgate, costa moderately 
arched, apex rounded, termen obliquely rounded ; deep crimson- 
pink ; a broad, white costal streak, from base to apex, narrowing 


se tS 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 121 


at extremities ; costal edge in centre pinkish-tinged; a narrow 
fuscous line along lower margin of costal streak, best marked 
towards base; cilia pink. Hindwings with termen rounded; 
whitish ; cilia whitish. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

N.Q., Townsville, in March; one specimen received from 
Mr. F. P. Dodd. 


POUJADIA HOLOCHRA, 2. Sp. 
dAwxpos, wholly pale. 

¢ 27mm. Head and thorax whitish. Palpi very long 
(5); grey, irrorated with whitish. Antennae whitish; in f with 
well-marked dentations and moderately ciliated (1). Abdomen 
whitish. Legs whitish, mixed with grey. Forewings elongate, 
costa moderately arched, apex rounded, termen obliquely rounded, 
whitish; costal edge ochreous-whitish towards base; a fine 
fuscous subcostal line from base to apex; beneath this disc is 
ochreous-tinged, except on veins and near dorsum, where a grey 
irroration replaces the ochreous suffusion ; cilia whitish, irro- 
rated with. grey; hindwings with termen rounded; whitish ; 
cilia whitish. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

VY. Birchip, in January; one specimen received from Mr. 
D. Goudie. 

Gen. 7. ParRaMATTa. 
Parramatta, Rag. 
+ PARRAMATTA ENSIFERELLA. 
Eucarphia ensiferella, Meyr, P.U.S.N.5.W. 1878, p. 208. 
VY. Melbourne. 
Gen. 8. Papua. 
Papua, Rag. 
PAPUA LATILIMBELLA. 

Papua latilimbella, Rag. 

Antennae of 3 strongly laminate. 

Q. Brisbane and Southport, in November and January ; 
three specimens, N.8.W., Ben Lomond (4,500 feet), in January. 
Also from New Guinea. 

PAPUA LONGIRAMELLA. 

longiranella, Hmps. 

Antennae of ¢ with long pectinations. 

N.Q. Cooktown ; Q. Brisbane, in December and January. 

PAPUA LEUCOCINCTA. 

brambus (2) leucocinctus, Wik., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxvii, p. 169. 

Polyocha leucocincta, Hmps, Moths Ind. iv, p. 62. 

N.Q. Cairns, Townsville ; Q. Stradbroke Island, Southport. 
Also from Borneo and India. 


122, AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


Gen. 9,  POLYOCHA. 
Polyocha, Zel., Isis, 1848, p. 876, Hmps. Moths Ind. iv, 
p. 61; 
POLYOCHA RHABDOTA. 
paBdwros, striped. 


3 2 20-28 mn. Head dull reddish-purple; face fuscous. 
Palpi long (4), porrect, terminal joint down-curved; fuscous. 
Antennae of g simple, with base not distorted [partly broken]. 
Thorax pale reddish. Abdomen whitish, towards apex greylsh. 
Legs pale greyish ; anterior pair fuscous. Forewings elongate, 
slightly dilated posteriorly, costa gently arched, apex rounded, 
termen obliquely rounded ; whitish more or less irrorated with 
pinkish; a broad white costal streak from base to apex, 
attenuated at extremities ; beneath this a broad fuscous median 
streak from base to apex; cilia pinkish white. Hindwings with 
termen slightly wavy; whitish, towards apex greyish; cilia 
whitish. 

Type in Goll. Turner. 

N.Q. Townsville; Q. Brisbane, Stanthorpe. Three speci- 
mens in January and February. 

POLYOCHA ACHROSTA, 2. S)). 

dxpwotos, colourless. 

2? 27 mm. Head, thorax, palpi, antennae, abdomen, and 
legs ochreous-whitish. Forewings elongate, costa nearly 
straight, apex rounded, termen obliquely rounded ; ochreous- 
whitish ; a pale fuscous subcostal line from base to apex, giving 
off a short branch tc costa before apex; cilia ochreous-whitish. 
Hindwings with termen rounded ; grey-whitish; cilia whitish. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

Q., Dalby ; one specimen. 

Gen. 10. ANERASTIDIA. 

Very different in appearance to the preceding genera, and 

superficially resembling the Gallerianue. 
ANERASTIDIA EBENOPASTA, 7. S/). 

éBevoractos, sprinkled with ebony. 

3 161, 1, Head, grey; palpi, whitish ; antennae, simple, 
not thickened, minutely ciliated (4); gray-whitish, annulated with 
blackish ; thorax blackish ; patagiae pale-gray ; abdomen gray ; 
legs white, irrorated with blackish; forewings elongate-oval ; 
costa rather strongly arched; apex rounded; termen very 
obliquely rounded ; gray-whitish sparsely irrorated with black- 
ish ; two outwardly-curved interrupted transversed blackish lines, 


9 


first from 4 costa to beyond 4 dorsum, second from 2 costa to 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 123 


before tornus ; an interrupted blackish terminal line ; cilia gray- 
whitish. Hindwings broad (2); termen deeply sinuate; gray ; 
cilia whitish; underside with a large central dull-ochreous 
blotch. 

2? 16mm. Differs as follows :—Head, thorax, and fore- 
wings, whitish ; hindwings narrower, whitish, without ochreous 
blotch beneath. 

Type in Col!. Turner. 

N.Q., Townsville, in September and November; two speci- 
mens received from Mr F. P. Dodd. 
aa. Tongue. well developed (Phycitinae, Hampson). 

B. Hindwings with vein 5 absent. 
c. Hindwings with 4 absent... ... 11. Ernophthora 
cc. Hindwings with 4 present. 
p. Forewings with vein 9 absent. 

E. Forewings with 5 absent. 

F. Palpi ascending ... sa ... 12. Hphestia. 

FF. Palpi porrect vas we, 18. Plodia. 

BE. Forewing with 4 and 5 stalen 
F. Forewings with 8 and 10 stalked 14. Hebletodes. 
FF. Forewings with 8 and 10 separate. 
G. Palpi ascending ... ae ... 15. Homoecosoma. 
Ge. Palpi porrect ... . 16. Kucampyla. 
pp. Forewings with 8 and 9 stalked. 
E. Forewings with 5 absent. 
F. Forewings with 3 and 4 stalked .... 17. Huzopherodes. 
FF. Forewings with 8 and 4 separate. 
G. Palpi ascending ... eis ... 18. Unadilla. 
GG. Palpi porrect ... ige ... 19. Crocydopora. 
EE. Forewings with 5 present. 
Fr. Hindwings with 2 from well before angle 


of cell, which is long. 
c. Forewings with 4 and 5 stalked 20. Huzophera. 


ee. Forewings with 4 and 5 separate 21. Hyphantidium. 
Fr. Hindwings, with 2 from or from near 
angle of cell, which is short. 
c. Forewings with 4 and 5 stalked 22 Tylochares. 
ce. Forewings with 4 and 5 separate. 
H. Forewings with 5 from above angle of 
cell, well separated from 4 23. Pempelia. 
HH. Forewings with 4 and 5 closely approx- 
imated at base. 
3. Palpi ascending oa ... 24. Trissonea. 


124 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


ss, Palpi porrect. 
kK. Maxillary palpi minute ... 25. Ancylosis. 
kk. Maxillary palpi well developed, ending 
in a pencil-shaped hair-tuft 26. Hypergryphia. 
Gen. 11. ERNopHTHoRA. 
E'rnophthora, Meyr., Tr. E.S., 1887, p. 268. 
| +}ERNOPHTHORA PHOENICIAS. 
Krnophthora phoenicias, Meyr., Tr. E.S., 1887, p. 268. 


GC: 
Gen. 12. KpHEstta. 
H'phestia, Gn., Kur. Microlep., p. 81. Meyr., Brit. Lep., p. 
372. Hmps., Moths Ind. iv., p. 66. 
The species of this and the following genus feed on maize, 
dried fruits, etc., and appear to be of world-wide distribution. 


EPHESTIA ELUTELLA. 
elutella, Hb. 


Ephestia elutella, Meyr., Brit. Lep., p. 873. P,.L.8.N.S.W. 
1878, p. 215. 
N.S.W., Sydney, Cooma. V., Gisborne. W.A., Perth, 


Geraldton. 
EPHESTIA FICULELLA. 


ficulella, Barrett. 
Iphestia ficulella, Meyr., Brit. Lep., p. 373, P.L.S.N.S.W., 
1880, p. 234. 
I think E’phestia cautella, Wik. (Amps., Moths Ind. iv., p. 
66) is the same species. 
Q., Brisbane ; infesting dried maize. W.A., Northampton. 
Carnarvon. 
+} EPHESTIA CAHIRITELLA. 
cahiritella, Zel. 
Iphestia cahiritella, Meyr., Brit. Lep., p. 373. 
Gen. 13. Puopta. 
Plodia, Gn., Meyr., Brit. Lep., p. 371. 
PLODIA INTERPUNCTELLA. 
interpunctella, Hb. 
Plodia interpunctella, Meyr., Brit. Lep., p. 872. P.L.S.N.S.W. 
1878, p. 216. 
Q., Brisbane. N.S.W., Sydney. Infesting dried maize, 


currants, etc. 
Gen. 14. HWcsBLeropEs, nov. 


exBAntwdyns, of unattractive appearance. 


Face flat. Tongue well developed. Palpi rather long, 


slender, recurved, ascending, reaching vertex; second joint long, 
terminal joint very short. Antennae of g unknown, of 2? 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 125 


slightly serrate towards apex. Forewings with veins 8 and 4 
shori-stalked, 5 absent, 9 absent, 8 and 10 stalked. Hindwings 
with vein 2 from near angle, 8 and 4 stalked, 5 absent, 7 an- 
as!omosing with 8 almost to extremity. 

Apparently a development of Homoeosoma, Curt. 

ECBLETODES PSEPHENIAS, i. Sp. 

Wedyvos, obscure. 

? 14 mm. Head dark fuscous mixed with ochreous- 
whitish. Palpi ochreous-whitish, irrorated with dark fuscous 
especially on external surface. Antennae pale fuscous. Thorax 
and abdomen brown-whitish mixed with fuscous. Legs fuscous; 
tarsi obscurely annulated with ochreous-whitish. Forewings 
elongate, pusteriorly somewhat dilated, costa gently arched, apex 
rounded, termen obliquely rounded, dark fuscous sparsely 
irrorated with whitish ; lines whitish; antemedian line out- 
wardly curved from + costa to 4 dorsum ; postmedian line from 
£ costa, indented first inwardly, then outwardly, to dorsum at 2; 
cilia fuscous. Hindwings with termen rounded and slightly 
wavy; pale fuscous; cilia fuscous-whitish, with a whitish 
basal line. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

Q. Brisbane, in April; one specimen. 

Gen. 15 Homorosoma. 


Homoeosoma, Curt., Ent. Mag. i., p. 190. Hmps. Moths. 
Ind. iv., p. 66. 

HOMOEOSOMA VAGELLA. 

Homoeosoma vagella, Zel., Isis, 1848, p. 863. Meyr., 
P.L.S.N.8.W. 1878, p. 214. 

N.Q., Kuranda, Townsville; Q., Brisbane; N.S.W., Glen 
Innes, Sydney, Bathurst, Cooma; V., Melbourne; S.A., 
Adelaide; W.A., Geraldton, Carnarvon. 

HOMOKOSOMA FORNACELLA, 


Homoeosoma fornacella, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1880, p. 219. 
N.Q., Kuranda, in October, one specimen; N.S.W., Sydney, 
Ben Lomond (4,500 ft.), T., George’s Bay. 
HOMOEOSOMA MELANOSTICTA, 


Homoesoma (?) melanosticta, Low., Tr. R.8.8.A., 1903, p. 58. 
S$ 2-17-25 mm. Head white. Palpi recurved, ascend- 
ing, not reaching vertex; fuscous, internal surface and apex 
white. Antennae in f stout, simple, not distorted at base, 
minutely ciliated (4) ; fuscous, basal joint white. Thorax, white. 


126 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


Abdomen, ochreous-whitish. Legs grey, irrorated with whitish. 
Forewings elongate-oblong, scarcely dilated, costa gently 
arched, apex rounded, termen obliquely rounded ; white towards. 
dorsum and termen ochreous-tinged; markings fuscous; a 
minute linear dot in disc at 4, and two transversely placed 
rounded dots in disc at 2, of these the upper is frequently obso- 
lete ; a dot on fold beneath first dot and a second on fold at 3, 
the two sometimes connected by a fine line; costal edge towards 
base dark fuscous ; a fine streak on costa from middle nearly to 
apex ; a straight row of five or six dots from % costa to second 
dot on fold; a series of terminal dots; cilia, whitish. Hind- 
wings with termen rounded; pale-grey ; cilia whitish, with a 
fine grey line near base. 

Q., Brisbane and Mount Tambourine, in November, March, 
and April; six specimens, N.S.W., Sydney (Lyell). Mr. Lower’s. 
locality may be correct, but a specimen of his labelled ‘‘ Derby,’” 
undoubtedly hails from a well-known Queensland source. 


HOMOEOSOMA STENOPIS, 2. Sp. 


otevwrts, narrow looking. 

g 21 mm. Head, thorax, and palpi grey with fine 
whitish irroration. Antennae grey. Abdomen and legs grey. 
Forewings elongate, costa strongly arched, apex round-pointed ; 
termen straight, oblique; grey irrorated with whitish and 
fuscous ; without any distinct markings; cilia grey irrorated 
with whitish. Hindwings with termen rounded ; thinly scaled ;. 
whitish, veins and termen grey; cilia whitish with a pale grey 
basal line. 

This obscure species may be distinguished from H. vagella 
by the much more strongly arched costa of forewings. The 
frons is also more prominent. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

V., Birchip, in March; one specimen received from Mr. 
D. Goudie. 


HOMOEOSOMA FARINARIA, 72. Sp. 


Farinarius, floury. 

9 27 mm. Head and thorax whitish irrorated with grey. 
Palpi grey. Abdomen ochreous-whitish. Legs whitish irrorated 
with grey. Forewings elongate, costa nearly straight, apex 
rounded, termen obliquely rounded ; grey irrorated with white ;. 
a strong white suffusion in costal portion of disc from + to $; a 
white line strongly angulated outwards from ¢ costa to 4 dorsum, 
a dark grey dot in disc at }, anda second transversely elongate 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 127 


in disc at 3; a dentate grey line from 4 costa to + dorsum, 
succeeded by a white line ; cilia grey-whitish. Hindwings with 
termen rounded ; pale grey; cilia white. 

Type in Coll. Lyell. 

T., Strahan, in January; one specimen. 

Gen. 16. Hucampyta. 
Eucampyla, Meyr., P.L.5.N.5.W. 1882, p. 159. 
+ + BUCAMPYLA ETHEIELLA. 
Eucampyla etheiella, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1882, p. 171. 
N.S.W., Sydney. 
Gen. 17. HuzopHEropsgs. 
EUZOPHERODES ALBICANS. 

albicans, Rag. 

Mr. F. P. Dodd informs me that the larve feed in the small 
round capsular fruit of a tree that grows near salt water, it 
spins a slight hood to this, when it pupates, and leaves a small 
slit for emergence. The fruit is then suspended on a long 
thread, sometimes as long as six feet, and swings thus on the 
tree. These cocoons frequently get blown off by the wind, and 
are carried away with the threads, which become attached often 
to other trees many yards distant. 

N.Q.. Townsville ; Q., Brisbane ; in January and February. 

+ + EUZOPHERODES ALLOCROSSA. 
Euzopherodes allocrossa, Low., Tr. R.S.S.A. 1908, p. 57. 
N.Q., Mackay ? (Lower). 

EUZOPHERODES LEPTOCOSMA, 2. S)). 

Nertoxocpos, slightly ornamented. 

3 2 15-17 mm. Head grey. Palpi recurved, ascending, 
not reaching vertex, apex acute: dark fuscous finely irrorated 
with whitish. Antennae grey; in g simple, not distorted at 
base, minutely ciliated (4). Thorax grey. Abdomen ochreous 
whitish, mixed with grey on dorsum. legs white, irrorated 
with dark fuscous; posterior pair mostly white. Forewings 
narrow elongate, costa slightly arched, apex rounded, termen 
obliquely rounded; whitish grey mixed with darker grey and 
fuscous ; a median fuscous suffusion from base to 2, interrupted 
at mid-disc ; a blackish crescentic spot in disc at 3, placed 
transversely with concavity anterior; a broad pinkish subcostal 
streak from } to 2, in 9 this is absent; a series of minute linear 
dark fuscous dots along fold; a fine acutely dentate transverse 
line from 2, costa not quite reaching dorsum, this is followed 


128 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRILIDAE 


by some longitudinal streaks on veins ; a series of tertuinal dots; 
cilia whitish, bases grey. Hindwings with termen rounded ; 
translucent, whitish, towards apex and termen grey; cilia 
whitish, with a fine grey line near base. 
Type in Coll. Turner. 
N.Q., Townsville, in November and December; two 
specimens received from Mr. F. P. Dodd. 
Gen. 18. Unapiiua. 
Unadilla, Hulst. 
UNADILLA DISTICHELLA. 
Homoeosoma distichella, Meyr., P.U.S.N.S.W., 1878, p. 215. 
Q., Brisbane, Stanthorpe ; N.S.W., Newcastle, Bowenfels ; 
V., Gisborne. 


UNADILLA ALBICOSTALIS. 
Homocosoma albicostalis, Lue., P.R.S.Q., 1891, p. 93. 
N.Q., Townsville; Q., Bundaberg, Brisbane, Stradbroke 


Island. 
Gen. 19. CrocyDopora. 


Crocydopora, Meyr., P.L.8.N.5.W., 1882, p. 158. 
CROCYDOPORA CINIGERELLA. 

Nephopterya cinigerella, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxxy., p. 
1719. 

Nephopterya stenopterella, Meyr., P.L.5.N.S.W.. 1878, p. 200. 

Q., Duaringa, Brisbane, Mt. Tambourine; N.S.W., Glen 
Innes, Newcastle, Sydney, Bathurst, Bowenfels, Cooma; V., 
Gisborne, Fernshaw. Also from New Zealand. 


Gen. 20. Euzopuera. 
Euzophera, Zel., Tr. E.S., 1867, p. 453. Hmps. Moths 


Ind. iv., p. 72. 
EuzoPpHERA SUBARCUELLA. 


Myelois subarcuella, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W., 1878, p. 211. 
N.S.W., Glen Innes, Sydney, Katoomba; Y., Gisborne, 
Melbourne; 8.A., Mt. Lofty, Ardrossan. 


| }£UZOPHERA HOLOPHRAGMA. 
Euzophera holophragma, Meyr., Tr. 12.8., 1887, p. 256. 
W.A., Carnavon. 

EUZOPHERA THERMOCHROA. 
Euzophera (2) thermochera, Low., Tr. R.S.8.A., 1896, p. 160. 
N.S.W., Sydney. 

Gen. 21. HypuHantipium. 

Hyphantidium, Scott, P.Z.8., 1859, p. 207. 
Cateremna, Meyr., Brit. Lep., p. 875. 


; 
: 
; 
j 
‘ 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 129 


+} HYPHANTIDIUM SERICARIUM. 
Hyphantidium sericarium, Scott, P.Z.8., 1859, p. 207, Pl, 61. 
Unfortunately I do not know this species, which is the 
type of the genus. 


HYPHANTIDIUM QUADRIGUTTELLUM. 

Acrobasis quadriguttella, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat., XXXV., 
perTit. 

N.Q., Townsville, in September; one specimen received 
from Mr. F. P. Dodd. 

}{ HYPHANTIDIUM MICRODOXUM. 
Euzophera microdowa, Meyr., P.U.S.N.8.W. 1880, p. 281. 
Q., Duaringa. T. Launceston. 

HYPHANTIDIUM LEUCARMUM. 

Euzophera leucarma, Meyr., P.U.8.N.8.W., 188), p. 280. 
Q., Brisbane. N.8.W., Sydney. 

|| HYPHANTIDIUM METALLOPS. 
Cateremna metallopa, Low., P.L.8.N.S.W., 1898, p. 46. 
N.Q., Mackay ? (Lower). 

HYPHANTIDIUM APODECTUM, 2. Sp. 

dzrodextos, acceptable. 

?.19mm. Head, fuscous. Palpi, dark fuscous. Anten- 
nae fuscous. Thorax, purplish-fuscous. Abdomen, purplish- 
fuscous, towards base of dorsum mixed with pale brownish- 
ochreous. Legs white, irrorated with dark fuscous. Forewings 
elongate-oblong, dilated posteriorly, costa straight, apex rounded, 
termen slightly oblique, slightly rounded ; purplish-fuscous irro- 
rated with dark-fuscous ; a broa.l white costal streak from near 
base to near apex, irrorated with a few dark-fuscous scales, its 
lower edge ill-defined and interrupted at 2 by a transverse dark- 
fuscous discal spot, middle thirc of costal edge dark-fuscous ; 
cilia pale-fuscous. Hindwings with termen rounded; pale 
brownish-ochreous ; cilia concolorous, at apex rather darker. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

Q)., Brisbane; one specimen. 


HYPHANTIDIUM SEMINIVALE, 2. sp. 

Seminivalis, half-snowy. 

? 18 mm. Head fuscous mixed with white. Palpi 
fuscous, bases of second and terminal joints white. Antennae 
grey. Thorax fuscous. Abdomen grey, Legs fuscous annulated 
with white. Forewings rather elongate, posteriorly somewhat 
dilated, costa slightly arched, apex rounded, termen slightly 

J 


130 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


oblique, rounded beneath ; fuscous ; costal half of disc broadly 
suffused with white; a dark fuscous basal spot; an elongate 
dark fuscous dot on costa at 2, and a larger spot beneath it 
partly interrupting white suffusion ; two dots placed transversely 
in mid-disc; a dark fuscous line from + costa to 2 dorsum, 
succeeded by a parallel line; a triangular blackish spot on costa 
just before apex; a series of blackish terminal dots; cilia grey, 
at apex white. Hindwings with termen rounded; thinly scaled 
and translucent ; grey, towards base whitish ; cilia grey. 

The forewings resemble H. apodectum, but the hindwings 
are very different. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

Q., Brisbane; one specimen. 


HYPHANLIDIUM PAMPHAES, 2. Sp. 

rappays, all-shining. 

g 107M. Head ochreous-brown. Palpi short, ascend- 
ing, recurved, not reaching middle of frons; fuscous. Antennae 
ochreous-brown; in ¢ slightly serrate, not distorted at base, 
minutely ciliated (4). Thorax ochreous-brown. Abdomen 
ochreous-whitish. Legs dark fuscous ; posterior pair whitish, 
mixed with fuscous on lower surface. Forewings elongate 
triangular, costa straight to near apex, apex rounded, termen 
slightly oblique, slightly rounded; pale brownish ochreous, in 
certain lights bright iridescent purple; cilia concolorous. 
Hindwings with termen nearly straight; thinly scaled, whitish, 
suffused with grey; veins outlined in grey; cilia pale grey with 
a whitish basal line. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

N.Q., Townsville, in February ; one specimen received from 
Mr. F. P. Dodd, who informs me that he found the larve 
feeding on the webs of abandoned nests of the green ant. 


Gen. 22. TyLocHaREs. 
Tylochares, Meyr. 
TYLOCHARES COSMIELLA. 
Myelois cosmtella, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1878, p. 212. 
Q., Duaringa ; N.S.W., Moruya; V., Melbourne; Birchip, 


Murtoa. 
TYLOCHARES SCEPTUCHA, 2. Sp). 


oxyrrovxos, bearing a wand or staff; in allusion to central 
streak of forewings. 

3g 19 mm. Head ochreous-whitish, face fuscous. Palpi 
recurved, ascending, rather densely scaled anteriorly ; fuscous, 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 131 


internal surface ochreous-whitish. Antennae fuscous; in $ 
slightly serrate, not distorted towards base, minutely ciliated (4), 
Thorax ochreous-whitish. Abdomen pale-ochreous, towards 
apex greyish. Legs dark-fuscous, irrorated with whitish except 
tarsi. Forewings narrow-elongate, costa nearly straight, apex 
rounded, termen oblique, slightly rounded ; brown-whitish with 
a few scattered dark-fuscous scales; a median streak of dark- 
fuscous irroration from base to 3, widening posteriorly ; a dark- 
fuscous spot at apex continued as a line along termen; cilia 
pale-grey mixed with white especially towards bases. Hind- 
wings with termen rounded ; grey; cilia pale-grey with a darker 
line near bases. 
Type in Coll. Turner. 


Q., Ballandean, near Stanthorpe, in February, one speci- 
men; V., Gisborne. 


Gen. 23. PEMPELIA. 
Pempelia, Hb., Meyr., P.L.S.N.S5.W. 1882, p. 157. 


PEMPELIA OPIMELLA. 

Nephopteryx opimella. Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1878, p. 201. 

Q., Brisbane, Mt. Tambourine, Stanthorpe. N.S.W..,. 
Sydney, Katoomba. 

PEMPELIA CANILINEA. 

Lasiocera canilinea, Meyr., P.L.S.N.8.W. 1878, p. 209. 

Distinguishable from the preceding by the peculiar antennae: 
of the g, but not I think to be separated generically. 

N.S.W., Sydney, Goulburn, Katoomba. 


++ PEMPELIA ANTELIA. 
Lasiocera antelia, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1885, p. 455. 
y., ————.. S.A. Ardrossan. 
++ PEMPELIA HEMICHLAENA. 


Pempelia? hemichlaena, Meyr,, Tr. B.S. 1887, p. 260. 
V., 


++ PEMPELIA MICROCOSMA. 


Lasiosticha microcosma, Low., Tr. R.8.S.A. 1893, p. 166. 
Referred to this genus conjecturally. 
§.A., Adelaide. 
Gen. 24. Trissonca. 
Trissonca, Meyr., P.L.8.N.S.W., 1882, p. 158. 
I think Heterographis, Rag. (Ent. Mo. Mag., 1885, p. 31), is 
the same genus. 


182 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


a TRISSONCA MESACTELLA. 


Spermatophthora mesactella, Meyr., P.L.5.N.8.W., 1879, 
p. 225. 

N.S.W., Sydney. 

++ TRISSONCA IANTHEMIS. 
Tylochares (2) ianthemis, Meyr., Tr. E.S., 1887, p. 260. 
Mr. Meyrick gives no locality. 
; TRISSONCA PROLEUCA. 

Heteroyraphis proleuca, Low., Tr. R.S.5.A., 1903, p. 58. 

N.Q., Townsville, in November; one bred specimen from 
Mr. F. P. Dodd in Coll. Lyell, corresponding exactly with Mr. 
Lower’s type. This species very probably occurs in Mackay, 
but the type was certainly not taken there. This observation 
applies mutatis mutandis to many of Mr. Lower’s localities which 
I have not thought worthy of notice. 


TRISSONCA MOLYBDOPHORA. 

Heterographis molybdophora, Low., Tr. B.S. 8.A., 1908, 
p. 57. 

3? 18-17 mm. Head white. Palpi grey-whitish. 
Antennae ochreous-whitish; in g not distorted towards base, 
simple, minutely ciliated (¢). Thorax whitish-ochreous. Ab- 
domen, ochreous whitish, Legs grey finely irrorated with 
white. Forewings narrow-elongate-triangular, costa nearly 
straight, apex rounded, termen oblique, scarcely rounded ; 
whitish-ochreous somewhat brownish tinged; costal edge near 
base fuscous ; a narrow median white streak from base to 4, 
edged above by a fine blackish Jine, beneath by a grey streak 
containing a few blackish scales; a suffused grey streak mixed 
with blackish along fold, and a finer similar streak on middle 
part of dorsum ; a grey suffusion along terminal half of costa ; 
a short oblique blackish streak from apex ; a streak along termen 
of mixed white, grey, and dark fuscous; cilia whitish with a 
grey line near base. Hindwings with termen slightly wavy; 
pale-grey ; cilia whitish with a grey line near base. 

A neatly marked and attractive species. 

N.Q., Townsville in April and July; two specimens 
received from Mr. F. P. Dodd. Cooktown (British Museum). 


TRISSONCA EPITERPES, 2. S)). 

emitep7ys, pleasing. 
2? 14mm. Head and thorax ochreous-whitish.  Palpi 
ochreous-whitish mixed with fuscous. Antennae grey. Abdo- 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 133 


men ochreous-whitish, partly suffused with grey. Legs whitish ; 
anterior pair with some fuscous scales. Forewings moderately 
elongate, costa slightly arched, apex rounded, termen obliquely 
rounded; grey, mixed with whitish and ferrugineous; a 
whitish streak containing some dark scales along costa 
to 2; a ferrugineous basal blotch divided by a grey suffusion ; 
a narrow white fascia straight and outwardly oblique from + 


> 


costa to 2 dorsum; a similar slightly waved white line 
from % costa to dorsum; a terminal ferrugineous suffusion ; 
termen grey; cilia grey-whitish. Hindwings with termen 
rounded; grey; cilia whitish, with a grey basal line. 

Type in Coll. Lyell. 

N.Q., Townsville, in January. One specimen received from 
Mr. F. P. Dodd. 


TRISSONCA CAPNOESSA, 7. 9)). 


kamvoes, Smoky, 

3 20 mm. Head, thorax, and palpi dark-fuscous _ 
Antennae dark fuscous; in g thickened and minutely ciliated ° 
(4). Abdomen fuscous, apices of segments whitish-ochreous. 
Legs fuscous irrorated with whitish. Forewings elongate, costa 
scarcely arched, apex rounded, termen somewhat oblique, 
rounded beneath ; dark-fuscous minutely irrorated with whitish ; 
an obscure whitish transverse line at 4; a second similar but 
augulated line from # costa to 2? dorsum ; cilia fuscous with 
minute whitish irroration. Hindwings with termen rounded, 
faintly sinuate beneath apex ; thinly scaled; grey towards base 
paler; cilia grey-whitish with a grey basal line. 

An obscure species although the type is in excellent 
condition. 

Type in Coll. Lyell. 

N.S.W., Bulli Pass, in April, one specimen. 


Gen. 25. ANCYLOSIS. 
Ancylosis, Zel., Isis. 1839., p. 178. Umps. Moths Ind., 
iyaper Tl. 
ANCYLOSIS LAPSALIS. 
Dosara lapsalis, W\k., Brit. Mus. Cat. xix, p. 829. 
Ancylosis lapsalis, Hmps., Moths Ind. iy, p, 71. 
N.Q. Townsville, in April; two specimens received from 
Mr. F. P. Dodd. Also from Ceylon. 


Gen. 26. HypoGrypuia. 
Hypogryphia, Rag. 


134 _ AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


HYPOGRYPHIA RUFIFASCIELLA. 
Hypogryphia rufifasciella, Hmps. é 
In coloration this species is suggestive of the Anerastianae, 
but the tongue is well developed. 
N.Q., Townsville. Q., Peak Downs, Gayndah, Brisbane. 
BB. Hindwings with vein 5 present. 
co. Palpi ascending. 
p. Hindwings with 4 and 5 stalked. 
gE. Hindwings with 2 from well before angle. 
r. Forewings with 4 and 5 stalked. 
Gc. Forewings with 2 and 3 stalked .... 27. Symphonistis. 
cc. Forewings with 2 and 3 separate... 28. Hyparqyria. 
FF. Forewings with 4 and 5 closely ap- 
proximated towards base. 
Gc. Hindwings with cell extending to 


about 4 . se 29. Odontarthria. 
eg. Hindwings ath cell Hot ‘axeate 
ing 4. 
H. Palpi with 2nd joint very large in 
both sexes 6 ... 80. Sthenobela. 


HH. Palpi with 2nd joint igaleeatony 31. Phycita. 
FFF. Forewings with 4 and 5 not ap- 


proximated aes sak 84. Epicrocis. 
KE. Forewings with vein 2 from close te 
angle 


r. Palpi with terminal joint bent for- 
wards at an angle with second... 32. Tephris. 
FF. Palpi with terminal joint not bent 
forwards as ... 383. Nephopteryx. 
pp. Hindwings with 4 and 5 separate: 
gE. Hindwings with cell not exceeding + 35. Spatulipalpta 
gE. Hindwings with cell about 4. 


F. Forewings smooth ... ons 36. C'ryptoblabes. 
FF. Forewings with strong aalemedian 
ridge of raised scales... ... 87. Ceroprepes. 


co. Palpi porrect. 

p. Hindwings with 3 stalked or closely 
approximated to 4+5 for half 
its length a .. 88. Sclerobia. 

pp. Hindwings with 3 not sppinzimated 
to4+6.. a aes ... 89. Etiella. 

In addition to fhase there are eight genera whose characters 
are unknown to me. 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 1385 


Gen. 27. SyYMPHONISTIS, nov. 


cvpdovos, harmonious. 

Face flat. Tongue well developed. Palpi recurved, 
ascending, barely reaching vertex. Antennae of f# thickened, 
simple, minutely ciliated (4), not distorted towards base. Fore- 
wings in ~ with a glandular thickening on lower surface at end 
of cell; veins 2 and 3 on a long stalk from angle, 4 and 5 
stalked, 8 and 9 stalked. Hindwings with veins 3, 4, 5 stalked, 
7 anastomosing strongly with 8. 

Type Nephopteryx monospila, Low. 


SYMPHONISTIS MONOSPILA. 


Nephopteryx monospila, Low., P.L.8.N.S.W. 1901, p. 662. 
N.Q., Townsville, in July, January, and February ; three 
specimens received from Mr. F. P. Dodd, who has found the 
larvae on Loranthus. I consider Mr. Lower’s locality very 
dubious. 
Gen. 28. Hypareyria. 
Aypargyria, Rag., Nouv. Gen., p. 9 (1888) ; Hmps., Moths 
ind.iv:, p: 87. 
HYPARG)RIA METALLIFERELLA. 
Hypargyria metalliferella, Rag., Nouv. Gen. p. 9; Mon. 
Phyc., p. 123, Pl. iv., f. 22; Hmps. Moths Ind. iv., p. 88. 
N.Q., Townsville, in November; Q., Brisbane and South- 
port, January to April. 
Gen. 29. ODONTARTHRIA. 
Odontarthria, Rag. 


ODONTARTHRIA ALMELLA. 
Ceroprepes almella, Meyr., P.L.5.N.S.W., 1878, p. 210. 
N.S.W., Sydney; V., Melbourne. 


ODONTARTHRIA SUBFUSCELLA. 
Odontarthria suofuscella, Hmps. 
N.Q., Townsville; Q., Toowoomba. 


++ ODONTARTHRIA SEBASMIA. 
Ceroprepes sebasmia, Meyr., Tr. E.S., 1887, p. 258. 
8.A., Quorn. 
Gen. 30. STHENOBELA, nov. 
oGevoBedos, with strong weapons ; in allusion to the palpi. 
Tongue well developed. Labial palpi of both sexes very 
large; in g with second joint very greatly dilated and bent 
outwards, exposing the maxillary palpi which end in a brush-like 
tuft, terminal joint very small; in ? very long (6), second and 


136 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


terminal joints obliquely ascending, not recurved, much dilated 
with long scales which conceal the apex. Antennaein g with 
basal joint enlarged, somewhat thickened beyond, simple, very 
minutely ciliated (4). Forewings with veins 4 and 5 closely 
approximated for a short distance near base, 8 and 9 stalked. 
Hindwings with vein 8 diverging from angle, 4 and 5 long- 
stalked, 7 anastomosing strongly from 8. 

Distinguished from Phycita by the peculiar palpi of both 
sexes. Sir Geo. Hampson, who however has only seen the 3, 
regards it as a new section of that genus. 

STHENOBELA NIPHOSTIBES, 2. sp. 

vipootiByns, Snow-beaten ; in allusion to the forewings. 

3 2? 22-24 mm. Head and palpi whitish-grey. Antennae 
grey. Thorax whitish-grey. Abdomen whitish-grey, apices of 
segments whitish-ochreous ; terminal segments pale ochreous. 
Legs white irrorated with fuscous; tarsi dark-fuscous. Fore- 
wings elongate, posteriorly slightly dilated, costa gently arched 
near base thence straight, apex rounded, termen slightly rounded, 
slightly oblique; pale fuscous irrorated with darker fuscous ; 
costal half of disc from near base to apex white with a few 
scattered fuscous scales; costal edge fuscous at base and again 
from 4 to 2; a small dark-fuscous discal dot at 4, and a larger 
dot at 2; a fine slightly dentate fuscous line from apex to # 
dorsum ; a fuscous terminal line; cilia pale-fuscous at apex 
‘mixed with white. Hindwings with termen rounded; fuscous 
whitish, darker towards termen; cilia whitish with a fuscous 
line near base. 

Type in. Coll. Turner. 

Q., Brisbane; two specimens received from Mr. F. P, Dodd: 

Gen. 31. Pryerta. 

Phycita, Curt., Brit. Ent. vi, p. 288. | Hmps., Moths Ind. 
1%, Pa v0. 

I have had considerable difficulty in separating this genus 
from Nephopteryx by the neuration. The character given by 
Hampson—the approximation of vein 3 of hindwings to base of 
4 and 5 -is liable to insensible gradation, and I have not found 
it possible by its means to draw a satisfactory line. Meyrick 
relies on the length of cell of hindwings being less than 4 and 
nearly 4 respectively. If this were adopted nearly all the species 
here ascribed to both genera would fall in the former category. 
The character I have used—the origin of vein 2 from the angle 
of cell in Nephopteryx—seems to me to give a better criterion 
than either of these. 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 137 


The genus as here defined may ultimately be broken up by 
using characters derived from the gf, but at present the 
Australian species are too imperfectly known to permit this. 

PHYCITA IMPARELLA. 

Magiria imparella, Zel., Stett. Ent. Zeit, 1867. p. 393, Pl. 
ii, f. 2. Hmps., Moths. Ind. iv., p. 96. 

Hindwings with vein 3 diverging from angle. 

Q., Brisbane, in November and April, two ? specimens. I 
sent an example to Sir Geo. Hampson, who informs me that it 
exactly resembles Indian specimens. 

PHYCITA EULEPIDELLA. 

Phycita eulepidella, Hmps., Moths Ind. iv, p. 94. 
Hindwings with vein 3 approximated to 4+5 for a short 
distance near base. 

N.Q., Townsville, in January; one @ specimen from Mr. 
F. P. Dodd 


PHYCITA CEROPREPIELLA. 
ceroprepiella, Hmps. 
Hindwing with vein 3 very shortly approximated to 4 + 5 
near base. 
N.Q., Cooktown (British Museum), Townsville, in Novem- 
ber and March. Three ¢ specimens received from Mr. F. P. 
Dodd. 


}+ PHYCITA PIRATIS. 
Tetealopha piratis, Meyr., Tr. 1.8. 1887, p. 257. 


i PHYCITA ACTIOSELLA. 

Aurana actiosella, Wik., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxvii., p. 122. 

Myelois actiosella, Meyr., Tr. E.S., 1887, p. 255. 

Rhodophaea actiosella, Hmps., Moths Ind. iv., p. 100. 

Hindwings with vein 3 diverging from angle. 

Q., Brisbane, in November and February; also from 
Ceylon, India and Africa. 

PHYCITA LEUCOMILTA. 

Phycita leucomilta, Low., Tr. K.S.5.A., 1908, p. 53. 

N.Q., Townsville, Mackay; Q., Brisbane. I have found 
the larvae feeding in the. young shoots of the creeping fig, 
spinning the leaves together. 

PHYCITA FLAVITINCTELLA. 

Phycita flavitinctella, Rag., Mon. Phyc., p. 418, Pl. xvii., 
f.9; Hmps., Moths Ind. iv., p. 97. 

Hindwings with vein 8 closely appressed to 4 and 5 for 
some distance. 


188 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRILIDAE 


N.Q., Townsville, in September. One 2? received from 
Mr. F. P. Dodd. Also from Ceylon and India. 


PHYCITA CHRYSERYTHRA. 
Nephopteryx chryserythra, Low., P.L.5.N.5.W., 1902, p. 
662. 
N.Q., Townsville (Dodd). 


++ PHYCITA PYRRHOPTERA. 
Euzophera (2) pyrrhoptera, Low., Tr. R.S.8.A., 1896, p. 
159. 
This, which appears from the description to be a very 
distinct species, is unknown to me. I refer it here conjecturally. 
Q., Brisbane (?) (Lower). 


PHYCITA CORETHROPUS, 2. Sp. 

KopnOporous, brush-footed. 

g 16-18 TM. Head, thorax and palpi dark purple- 
fuscous. Antennae whitish, barred above with blackish, basal 
joint purple-fuscous; in g with a strong backward-projecting 
tooth on basal joint, thence simple, laterally compressed, and 
very minutely ciliated. Abdomen pale-grey, apices of segment 
and tuft whitish-ochreous. Legs fuscous irrorated and annulated 
with whitish; posterior femora aud base of tibiae whitish ; 
posterior tibiae in g with a pencil-like tuft of whitish hairs 
from upper surface near base, and a tuft of hairs on upper 
surface near apex. Forewings elongate-triangular, costa nearly 
straight, apex round-pointed, termen somewhat oblique, scarcely 
rounded ; fuscous somewhat purplish-tinged, and irrorated with 
whitish ; a transverse whitish suffusion near base; a triangular 
whitish suffusion on costa beyond middle; a transverse ridge of 
raised scales at 4, dark with brassy lustre ; a finely dentate dark 
fuscous subterminal line; a dark-fuscous oblique mark at apex ; 
a series of dark-fuscous terminal dots; cilia grey with whitish 
irroration. Hindwings with termen rounded; vein 3 approxi- 
mated to 4 + 5 at base for a short distance; translucent and 
thinly scaled; grey-whitish ; cilia whitish. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

N.Q., Townsville, in June und July; two specimens received 
from Mr. F. P. Dodd, bred from Acacia aulacocarpa. 

PHYCITA HEMICALLISTA. 

Phycita hemicallista, Low., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1901, p. 668. 

?. 20-22 mm. Head and thorax whitish-ochreous. Palpi 
fuscous, outer surface of second joint suffused with whitish 
towards base. Maxillary palpi white. Antennae ochreous- 


BY A. FEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 139 


fuscous. Abdomen leaden-fuscous, apices of segments and lower 
surface pale ochreous. Legs fuscous mixed with whitish. Fore- 
wings elongate, posteriorly dilated, costa nearly straight, apex 
rounded, termen scarcely oblique, scarcely rounded; an out- 
wardly curved fuscous or reddish fuscous line from mid-costa to 
beyond mid-dorsum, prolonged along dorsum towards base; 
beyond this the whole of disc is suffused with leaden fuscous 
except a whitish spot resting on median line above middle, and 
a pale-ochreous blotch opposite mid-termen; termen narrowly 
leaden-fuscous ; cilia ochreous-whitish, at apex and tornus 
fuscous-tinged. Hindwings with termen rounded ; grey; cilia 
ochreous-whitish with a grey basal line. 

A very distinct and unmistakable species. 

N.Q., Geraldton, in May. Q., Brisbane, in January. 

PHYCITA DELTOPHORA. 

Phycita deltophora, Low., Tr. B.8.8.A. 1908, p. 53. 

3 2? 27-28 mm. Head and palpi whitish mixed with 
grey; palpi in g with second joint strongly dilated, barely 
reaching vertex, terminal joint very short; in ? second joint 
exceeding vertex, terminal joint moderate. Antennae whitish 
mixed with grey; in ¢g with basal joint enlarged and bent, 
strongly ciliated in tufts (14). Thorax grey. Abdomen whitish. 
grey. Legs whitish mixed with fuscous. Forewings elongate, 
strongly dilated posteriorly, apex rounded, termen moderately 
oblique, slightly rounded; grey mixed with whitish except in 
basal third, which is darker and contains some brownish scales ; 
a blackish slightly dentate line of raised scales from + costa to 
4 dorsum ; a narrow whitish fascia limiting basal area from 4 
costa to 2 dorsum, posteriorly ili-defined towards costa, but 
limited by a fine grey line towards dorsum; a very faint grey 
linear discal mark ; a fine whitish postmedian line from costa at 
$, acutely angled inwards, thence finely dentate to 2 dorsum, 
preceded by minute grey dots on veins; an interrupted blackish 
terminal line; cilia grey mixed with whitish, apices whitish, 
sometimes with a subapical pinkish line. Hindwings with 
termen rounded ; vein 3 diverging from angle of cell; trans- 
lucent, fuscous-whitish, darker towards termen ; cilia fuscous- 
whitish with a fuscous line at 4. 

N.Q., Townsville, one J in October (Dodd); Q., Brisbane , 
one 2 in May. 

PHYCITA THERMOLOPHA, 

Nephopteryx thermalopha (misprint), Low., Tr. R.S.S.A. 

1908, p. 55. 


140 AUSTRALIAN TMYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


f 2. 20-21 mm. Head fuscous mixed with reddish ; in ? 
whitish. Palpi fuscous mixed with whitish; in g§ with second 
joint greatly dilated, terminal joint short, naked, with two 
minute terminal bristles. Antennae grey; in g much swollen 
beyond basal joint, thence slightly serrate, moderately ciliated (2). 
Thorax grey mixed with whitish. Abdomen grey mixed with 
whitish, apices of segments whitish; in # first three segments 
except a melian strip reddish above. Legs whitish mixed with 
fuscous ; middle tibiae in f with a large tuft of reddish hairs 
on internal surface. Forewing elongate, posteriorly dilated, 
costa moderately arched, apex rounded, termen slightly oblique, 
slightly rounded ; whitish mixed with grey and fuscous ; a trans- 
verse ridge of raised blackish scales in disc at 4 not reaching 
either margin; an obscure fuscous dentate line from 4 costa to 
mid-dorsum ; a fuscous dot beneath costa at %, and a second in 
disc obliquely below and beyond first; a whitish line preceded 
by a broken fuscous line from costa, angulated first inwards, 
then outwards, to before tornus; a blackish terminal line inter- 
rupted by whitish on veins; cilia grey, two fine lines and apices 
whitish, sometimes with a subapical pinkish line. Hindwings 
with termen slightly rounded ; vein 3 diverging from angle; 
fuscous-whitish, thinly scaled ; cilia whitish with a fuscous line 
near base. Under side of wings in 3 streaked with reddish 
towards base. 

Allied to P. ceroprepiella, Hmps., from which the 2 may be 
distinguished by the discal dots, and by the ridge of raised scales 
not reaching dorsum. The sexual differences in the abdominal 
colouring are curious, 

N.Q., Townsville, in February; two specimens received 
from Mr. F. P. Dodd. 


PHYCITA ADIACRITIS, 2. Sp. 


ddvaxpitos, of ordinary or undistinguished appearance. 

3 2 21-22 mm. Head whitish-grey. Palpi whitish 
irrorated with fuscous; in g with second joint much dilated, 
terminal joint minute. Antennae grey; in g much swollen 
beyond basal joint, thence simple, very minutely ciliated (4). 
Thorax grey. Abdomen whitish-ochreous, bases of segments 
grey. Legs whitish mixed with fuscous. Forewings elongate, 
posteriorly dilated, costa moderately arched, apex rounded, 
termen slightly oblique, slightly rounded ; whitish mixed with 
grey and fuscous ; a whitish median line edged on both sides 
with dark fuscous, sometimes obsolete; a dark fuscous dot 


—~ 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 141 


beneath costa at 2, with a second longitudinally elongate dot 
beneath it in disc; an outwardly curved obscure whitish line 
more or less edged with fuscous on both sides from 3 costa to 
before tornus ; an interrupted blackish terminal line ; cilia grey, 
apices and a fine median line whitish, sometimes pinkish before 
apices. Hindwings with termen slightly rounded; veins 3 
shortly approximated to 4+ 5 near base; whitish and thinly 
scaled ; veins and termen fuscous; cilia whitish with a fuscous 
line near base. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

N.Q., Townsville, in October; four specimens received from 
Mr. F. P. Dodd. Q., Brisbane, in December; one specimen. 


PHYCITA HADES. 


Nephopteryx hades*, Low., Tr. R.S.8.A., 1903, p. 54. 

? 20 TT. Head, thorax, palpi and antennae fuscous. 
Abdomen fuscous, apices of segments whitish. Legs fuscous 
wlth some whitish scales. Forewings elongate, postericrly 
dilated, costa rather strongly arched, apex rounded, termen 
rounded, slightly oblique; fuscous; markings dark-fuscous; a 
transverse line in disc at 2, not reaching margins; an irregular 
suffused blotch at mid-disc ; a line from ? costa, first inwardly, 
then outwardly, and again inwardly waved to ? dorsum ; this is 
closely followed by a parallel slightly brownish line from apex 
to tornus; a series of terminal dots; cilia fuscous, apices and 
two fine lines whitish. Hindwings with termen rounded, 
slightly sinuate beneath apex; vein 3 closely applied to 4+5 
for some distance from origin ; whitish, thinly scaled ; a suffused 
fuscous terminal line; cilia whitish, with a fuscous line near 
base. 

The type, though in perfect condition, is more obscurely 
marked than my specimen. After careful comparison I think 
they are the same species. 


N.Q., Townsville, in January. One specimen received 
from Mr. F. P. Dodd. 


PHYCITA EREBOSCOPA. 

Nephopteryx ereboscopa, Low., Tr. R.S.S.A. 1908, p. 54. 

2 26° mm. Head pale-fuscous. Palpi pale-fuscous, 
internal surface whitish. Thorax fuscous irrorated with darker 
fuscous, slightly purplish-tinged. Abdomen fuscous mixed with 


*A singularly unfortunate name even in entomology, where silly, ugly, 
and inappropriate names are so common. 


142 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


whitish-ochreous. Legs ochreous-whitish mixed with fuscous. 
Forewings strongly dilated posteriorly, costa moderately arched, 
apex round- pointed, termen rounded, slightly oblique ; ochreous- 
whitish densely suffused with dull purple-fuscous, towards base- 
and margins irrorated with dark-fuscous ; a transverse ridge of 
elongate raised scales across disc from + costa to 4 dorsum ;, 
cilia whitish mixed with fuscous. Hindwings with termen 
rounded ; pale-grey, thinly scaled; vein 3 only approximated to. 
4+ 5 close to origin; a narrow suffused fuscous terminal line ;, 
cilia pale-grey. 
Q., Brisbane, in April; one specimen. 
PHYCITA TRACHYSTOLA, 2. Sp. 


tpaxvoToXos, rough: cloaked. 

? 20 mm. Head ochreous-whitish. Palpi fuscous. 
(partly broken). Antennae fuscous. Thorax pale fuscous. 
Abdomen pale fuscous ; apices of segments pale-ochreous. Legs. 
whitish mixed with dark fuscous. Forewings elongate-triangu- 
lar, costa nearly straight, apex rounded, termen nearly straight, 
slightly oblique; pale-fuscous irrorated with white; a rounded 
tuft of raised scales in mid-disc near base; a transverse. 
ridge of raised scales from dorsum at 4 to fold; a series of dark 
fuscous terminal dots; cilia pale fuscous with a fine whitish line. 
at 4. Hindwings with termen rounded; vein 3 only approx- 
imated to 4+5 close to base; pale grey, veins and termen 
darker; cilia pale-grey with a darker line near base. 

Allied to the preceding, but the transverse ridge of raised 
scales is less developed, and there is an additional raised tuft. 
near base. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

Q., Brisbane, in January ; one specimen. 


PHYCITA MIXOLEUCA, 2. sp. 
puéoAeuxos, partly white. 

@ 22 mm. Head white with a few grey scales. Palpi 
white; external surface of apical part of second joint, and 
terminal joint exeept base, dark-fuscous. Antennae ochreous- 
whitish. Thorax white with fuscous irroration and a central 
dark-fuscous spot. Abdomen pale-ochreous, bases of segments. 
irrorated with dark-fuscous. Legs white banded with dark- 
fuscous, tarsi dark-fuscous; anterior pair dark-fuscous anteriorly 
except base of coxae. Forewings elongate, posteriorly dilated, 
costa nearly straight, apex rounded, termen rounded, slightly 
oblique; clear-white, towards dorsum suffused with pale-fuscous;. 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 143 


markings dark-fuscous ; a dot on base of costa, another on mid- 
base, and a third in disc near second ; a small triangular blotch 
on dorsum at 4, its apical portion composed by a strong tuft of 
raised scales; an oblique fascia from 4 costa to mid-dorsum, 
attenuated towards dorsum ; a few dark fuscous scales on mid- 
costa ; a discal dot beneath costa beyond middle, and another in 
mid-disc rather posterior to first; a broad inwardly oblique 
wedge-shaped streak from apex, continued as a fine dentate line 
to before tornus; a series of terminal dots; cilia white partly 
suffused with pale-fuscous. Hindwings with termen rounded ; 
vein 3 approximated to 4+5 near base; grey; cilia pale-grey 
with a darker line near base. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

Q., Brisbane, in November; one specimen. 


PHYCITA RECONDITA, 72. Sp. 


Reconditus, concealed, inconspicuous. 

39 16 TILT. Head grey. Palpi ascending, recurved, 
exceeding vertex, second joint not dilated in g, terminal joint 
moderate, acute; fuscous mixed with whitish. Antennae grey ; 
in $ with a wide sinus containing a large tuft of scales immed- 
iately succeeding basal joint, thence thickened, simple, minutely 
ciliated (4). Thorax grey, with a double posterior reddish-purple 
spot. Abdomen pale-grey with a small reddish-purple spot on 
base of dorsum. Legs fuscous mixed with whitish. Forewings 
moderate, posteriorly somewhat dilated, costa and veins on 
posterior part of disc irrorated with reddish-purple; an obscure 
whitish grey-margined fascia from + costa to 2 dorsum; a dark- 
grey longitudinally elongate discal dot at 2; an obscure 
whitish subterminal line; a series of dark-grey terminal dots ; 
cilia grey finely irrorated with whitish, and with a subapical 
purplish tinge. Hindwing with termen rounded ; vein 8 closely 
applied to 4+5 for a short distance ; grey, towards base whitish ; 
cilia whitish-grey with a rather darker line near base. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

N.Q.,° Townsville, in January; two specimens received 
from Mr. F. P. Dodd. 


PHYCITA ATIMETA 2. Sp. 
atintos, unesteemed. 

? 18 mm. Head whitish-grey. Palpi and antennae 
fuscous. Thorax whitish-grey irrorated with fuscous. Abdomen 
ochreous-whitish, mid-dorsum near base grey. Legs whitish- 
grey irrorated with dark-fuscous. Forewings narrow-elongate, 


144 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


slightly dilated posteriorly, costa slightly arched, apex rounded, 
termen rounded, slightly oblique; whitish-grey mixed with 
fuscous ; a dark basal area, followed by a pale area, which ex- 
tends to mid-disc; a series of dark-fuscous terminal dots ; cilia 
grey with fine whitish irrocation. Hindwings with termen 
rounded; cell very short, vein 3 diverging from angle; fuscous- 
whitish, thinly scaled, darker towards termen; cilia whitish 
with a darker basal line. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

Q., Brisbane, in January ; one specimen. 


Gen. 32, TEpuris. 
Tephris, Rag., Mon. Phye., p. 446. Hmps. Moths Ind., iv 
p. 106. 
Allied to Nephoptery«, from which it differs in the peculiar 
palpi. 
TEPHRIS GLAUCOBASIS. 
Tephris ylaucobasis, Low., Tr. R.8.8.A., 1908, p. 56. 
Slightly variable in its markings. 
N.Q., Geraldton, in May; one g received from Mr. Harold 
Brown. ‘Townsville, in February ; one very perfect ? received 
from Mr. F. P. Dodd, agreeing closely with type. — 


Gen. 33. NEPHOPTERYX. 
Nephopteryx, Hb., Verz., p. 370. Hips. Moths Ind. IV., 
p. 76. 
I distinguish this genus from Phycita by the origin of vein 
2 of hindwings, which arises from angle, or from close before 


angle of cell. 
Whether the first six species come under this definition I 


cannot of course decide. 

+ NEPHOPTERYX ATRISQUAMELLA. 
Nephopteryx atrisquamella, Hmps. 
N.Q., Cooktown. 

+} NEPHOPTERYX FLAVEOTINCTA. 
Myelois flaveotincta, Luc., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1892, p. 265. 
Q., Duaringa, Brisbane. 

}{ NEPHOPTERYX INFUSELLA. 

Nephopteryx infusella, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W., 1880; gee 
Q., Duaringa. 

++ NEPHOPTERYX EURAPHELLA,. 
Nephopteryx euraphella, Meyr., P.L.8.N.S.W., 1880, p. 217. 
N.S.W., Wollongong. 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 145 


++ NEPHOPTERYX MELANOSTYLA. 

Nephopteryw» melanostyla, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W., 1880, p. 
220. 

N.S.W., Sydney. 

++ NEPHOPTERYX PETALOCOSMA. 
Nephopteryx petalocosma, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W., 1882, p. 169. 
N.S.W., Sydney. 
NEPHOPTERYX PAUROSEMA. 

Thylacoptila paurosema, Meyr., Ent. Mo. Mag. 1885, p. 106. 
Hmps., Moths 1nd. iv, p. 81. 

N.Q., Townsville, in October; one ¢ received from Mr. 
F. P. Dodd. Also from Ceylon, India, and Africa. 

NEPHOPTERYX LEUCOPHAEELLA. 

Nephopteryx leucophaeella, Zel., Stett. Ent. Zeit., 1867, 
p- 890. Hmps., Moths Ind., iv, p. 83. 

N.Q., Cairns, in August; one ¢. Also from India. 

NEPHOPTERYX DASPYTERA. 

Nephopteryx daspytera, Low., Tr. R.S.8.A. 1908, p. 55. 

I have examined the type and compared it with a small 
series in my own collection. 

Q., Brisbane, in March, April and May. 

++ NEPHOPTERYX PLACOXANTHA. 
Salebria placoxantha, Low., P..8.N.8.W. 1898, p. 45. 
N.S.W., Broken Hill. 
NEPHOPTERYX MINUTELLA. 

Nephopteryx minutella, Rag., Bull. Soc. Ent. Fr. 1885, p. 150. 

Mon. Phye. p. 326, Pl. xiv. f.16. Hmps., Moths Ind. 
iv. p. 81. 

N.Q., Townsville, one @ in August. Q., Brisbane; South- 
port; three ? in February and March. 

NEPHOPTERYX SYNTARACTIS. 

(cvvtapaxros, confused.) 

Sf P 22-24 mm. Head ochreous-whitish. Palpi slightly 
exceeding vertex, terminal joint short, acute; grey, posteriorly 
ochreous-whitish. Antennae grey; in g with basal joint 
enlarged and succeeded by a groove containing a large tuft of 
scales, thence thickened, simple, and minutely eiliated (,!5). 
Thorax grey. Abdomen ochreous-whitish ; three basal segments 
in $ dark-fuscous, in 2 only with median basal fuscous dots. 
Legs grey mixed with whitish; middle pair in g suffused with 
dark-fuscous ; middle and posterior femora and tibae in ? with 


an oblique median fuscous band. Forewings elongate, strongly 
K 


146 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


dilated posteriorly, costa moderately arched, more strongly 
towards apex, apex rounded, termen obliquely rounded; grey 
mixed with whitish ; base of dorsum and mid-dise more or less 
suffused with brownish ; in # a blackish suffusion on base of 
dorsum ; a whitish line from 4 costa to ? dorsum, edged pos- 
teriorly by a variably developed fuscous line; a discal dot 
beneath 2 costa, and a second in mid-dise posterior to first, the 
two sometimes connected ; a whitish line from 2 costa angled 
acutely inwards, then outwards, and slightly dentate to before 
tornus, this line is more or less distinctly edged with grey or 
fuscous on both sides; a series of dark-fuscous terminal dots ; 
cilia whitish. Hindwings with termen rounded, slightly wavy ; 
whitish towards termen suffused with pale grey ; cilia whitish. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

Q., Bundaberg ; Brisbane, in November, December, March, 
and April. N.S.W., Sydney. Seven specimens, of which six 
are females. 


NEPHOPTERYX METASAROCA. 


Nephopteryx metasarca, Low., Tr. R.S.5.A. 1903, p. 56. 

gf 15-20 mm. Head whitish. Palpi grey; in g with 
second joint dilated and upper half of inner surface excavated, 
leaving a wide cup-like space between the palpi, terminal joint 
moderate. Antennae ochreous-whitish ; in g with basal joint 
enlarged, and succeeded by a groove containing a large tuft of 
scales, thence thickened, simple, minutely ciliated (4). Thorax 
grey. Abdomen ochreous-whitish, somewhat pinkish-tinged. 
Legs whitish, irrorated and annulated with dark-fuscous. 
Forewings elongate, posteriorly dilated, costa strongly arched 
before apex, apex rounded, termen obliquely rounded; grey 
finely irrorated with whitish ; a small patch of blackish scales 
on base of dorsum ; a suffused line more or less blackish from 
4 costa to + dorsum; a blackish dot beneath costa beyond 
middle, connected with a second dot below and posterior ; a short 
whitish erect streak from dorsum at #, sometimes preceded by a 
quadrate whitish blotch on mid-dorsum ; a fine dentate whitish 
line from 2 costa bent first inwardly, then outwardly, not 
reaching dorsum ; a series of dark-fuscous terminal dots; cilia 


grey, apices and a fine median line whitish. Hindwings with « 


termen somewhat sigmoid; ochreous-whitish, pinkish-tinged ; 
towards termen irrorated with dark-fuscous; cilia pinkish- 
whitish. 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 147 


Var. The two Townsville specimens are smaller, lack the 
blackish suffusion, but have a well-marked whitish blotch on 


* mid-dorsum. 


This species is referable to Palibothra, Rag., which may bs. 
tenable as a distinct genus. 

N.Q., Townsville, in December; two specimens received 
from Mr. F. P. Dodd. Q., Sandgate, near Brisbane, in 
December; one specimen. 


NEPHOPTERYX EPICRYPHA 72. Sp). 


éexixpupos, hidden, inconspicuous. 

9.25 mm. Head, thorax, and palpi pale-brown, mixed 
with fuscous. Antennae grey. Abdomen ochreous: whitish, 
irrorated with. pale-grey. Legs whitish, finely irrorated with 
grey. Forewings elongate, gradually dilated, costa nearly 
straight, arched before apex, apex round-pointed, termen ob- 
liquely rounded; pale-brownish irrorated with whitish and 
fuscous; an indistinct dentate whitish partly fuscous-edged line 
from 4 costa to 4 dorsum ; an obscure fuscous discal dot beyond 
middle; an inwardly oblique dentate fuscous line from 2 costa 
to tornus, edged posteriorly by a whitish line ; a series of black- 
ish terminal dots; cilia pale-brownish with fine whitish irrora- 
tion. Hindwings with termen rounded ; whitish ; a fine fuscous 
line along termen ; cilia whitish wlth a fuscous line near base. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

N.Q., Townsville, in April; one specimen received from 
Mr. F. P. Dodd. : 

Gen. 34. Eptcrocts. 
Epicrocis, Zel., Isis. 1848, p. 878. Hmps., Moths Ind. iv. , 
p. 85. 
++ EPICROCIS OPPOSITALIS. 
Trachonitis oppositalis, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxvii., p. 41. 
N.S.W., Sydney. 
EPICROCIS SUBLIGNALIS. 

Trachonitis sublignalis, Wik., Brit. Mus. Cat, xxvii., p. 41. 

Nephopteryx patulalis, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxvii., p. 70. 

Pempelia strigiferella, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1878, p. 202. 

Pempelia rujitinctella, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1878, p. 203. 

Pempelia caliginosella, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1880, p. 221. 

Pempelia oculiferella, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1880, p. 222. 

I may be wrong in putting all these names together, but 
they appear to me to represent one very variable species. 


148 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRILIDAE 


N.Q., Kuranda, Townsville, Mackay; Q., Bundaberg, 
Brisbane, Stradbroke I., Southport, Stanthorpe; N.S.W., 
Newcastle, Sydney, Kiama, Moruya. 
+} EPICROCIS AMAURA. 

Oligochroa amaura, Low., P..8.N.S.W. 1901, p. 662. 

Q., Brisbane. 


+ EPICROCIS DIGRAMMELLA. 
Pempelia digrammella, Meyr, P.U.S.N.S.W. 1880, p. 228. 
N.S.W., Sydney. 

++ EPICROCIS MESEMBRINA. 
Epicrocis mesembrina, Meyr, Tr. H.S., 1887, p. 259. 
W.A., Albany. 


EPICROCIS FESTIVELLA. 
Epicrocis festivella, Zel. Isis., 1848, p. 878. Hmps. Moths 
Ind. iv., p. 87. 
N.Q., Townsville. Q., Nambour, Brisbane. Also from 
Java, Ceylon, India and Africa. 
EPICROCIS SATURATELLA. 
saturatella, Mab. 
N.Q., Thursday Island, Townsville. 
++ EPICROCIS AEGNALIS. 
Pyralis ? aegnusalis, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat., xix., p. 905. 
Canthelea aegnalis, Meyr, Tr., E.S., 1887, p. 254. 
N:Q: . Also from Sumatra, Ceylon, 
India, China and Madagascar. 
EPICROCIS ORTHOZONA. 
Nephopteryx orthozona, Low., Tr. R.S.S.A., 19038, p. 58. 
3g ? 19-20 mm. Head and thorax pale-grey. Labial 
palpi pale-grey; second joint irrorated with dark fuscous 
anteriorly ; slender, recurved, not reaching vertex, alike in both 
sexes. Antennae grey; in f with a small notch on upper 
surface some distance beyond basal joint, no tuft of scales, 
serrate, with short ciliations (+). Abdomen pale grey. Legs 
whitish ; anterior pair, tarsi, and an oblique subterminal band 
on mid-tibiae dark fuscous. Forewings elongate-triangular, 
costa gently arched, apex round pointed, termen rounded, 
oblique ; grey mixed with whitish with a very few scattered 
blackish scales; a fine outwardly curved blackish line from 2 
costa to mid-dorsum; a similar slightly sigmoid line from # 
costa to tornus ; midway between these lines towards costa is an 
oblique oval grey spot ; a series of blackish terminal dots; cilia 
pale-grey with fine whitish irroration. Hindwings with termen 
rounded; whitish; termen greyish tinged ; cilia whitish. 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 149 


This species will probably be ultimately separated from the 
genus. 

N.Q., Townsville, in December; two specimens received 
from Mr. F. P. Dodd. Q. Goodna near Brisbane, in March ; 


one specimen. 
Gen. 35. SPaTULIPALPIA. 


Spatulipalpia, Rag., Mon. Phye. p. 19. Hmps., Moths 
Ind. iv., p. 101. 


SPATULIPALPIA FLABELLIFERA. 
Spatulipalpia flabellifera, Hmps., Moths Ind. iv., p. 102. 
‘N.Q., Townsville, in February and March ; three specimens 

received from Mr. F. P. Dodd. Also from Ceylon. 


SPATULIPALPIA PALLIDICOSTALIS. 
Nephopteryx pallicostalis, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxvii., 
p- 68. Hmps., Moths Ind. iv. p. 108. 
Q., Brisbane ; two specimens. Also from Ceylon and India. 


SPATULIPALPIA SOPHRONICA, 2. Sp). 
cwdpovixos, Sober, moderate. 

g 20 mm. Head, thorax, and palpi pale grey irrorated 
with fuscous. Antennae dark fuscous; basal joint and shaft 
just beyond basal joint enlarged, but constricted at junction ; 
remainder of shaft simple, minutely ciliated. Abdomen whitish- 
grey, apices of segments whitish-ochreous. Legs pale grey 
irrorated with dark fuscous. Forewings elongate, costa slightly 
arched, apex rounded, termen obliquely rounded ; pale grey with 
a few dark fuscous scales; a dark fuscous basal suffusion; a 
few dark scales representing antemedian line; an indistinct 
subterminal line at 2; a series of dark fuscous terminal dots ; 
cilia pale grey. Hindwings with termen rounded; thinly scaled 
and translucent; whitish; slightly suffused with grey along 
veins and termen ; cilia whitish with a grey basal line. 

2? 18 mm. Forewings with costa more arched, basal 
suffusion absent, antemedian and subterminal lines much better 
marked. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

N.Q., Townsville ; two specimens apparently bred received 
from Mr. F. P. Dodd. 


Gen. 36. CRYPTOBLABES. 


Cryptoblabes, Zel., Isis., 1848, p. 644. Hmps. Moths. Ind. 
ive, p. 101. 
CRYPTOBLABES OENOBARELLA. 


Myelois oenobarella,Meyr, P.L.S.N.S.W. 1880, p. 228. 
N.Q., Townsville. Q., Brisbane. N.S.W., Sydney. 


+ 
150 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


Tt CRYTOBLABES FERREALIS. 


Cryptoblabes ferrealis, Low., P.L.8.N.S.W. 1901, p. 663. 
Q., Brisbane (Lower). N.W.A., Derby (Lower). 


CRYPTOBLABES PLAGIOLEUCA, %. Sp. 


mAaytoAevkos, Obliquely white. 

9 14 mm. Head and thorax reddish purple ; face and 
palpi fuscous. Antennae ochreous whitish, annulated with dark 
fuscous. Abdomen, fuscous. Legs, fuscous, irrorated with 
whitish: and reddish purple. Forewings elongate, slightly 
dilated, costa moderately arched, apex rounded, termen obliquely 
rounded, reddish purple mixed with fuscous, the purple being best 
marked on veins and towards base of dorsum; a conspicuous 
straight white fascia from 4 costa to 3? dorsum ; a whitish discal 
dot beneath 3 costa, with a few whitish scales between it and 
costa ; a whitish line from 3 costa obliquely inwards forming a 
short angle inwards and again outwards before mid-disc, angled 
again inwards near dorsum, ending at # dorsum; a series of 
fuscous terminal dots preceded by some whitish irroration * 


cilia pale purple, at apex and tornus grey. Hindwings with- 


termen rounded, whitish grey, darker on apex and termen ; cilia 
pale grey. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

N.Q., Townsville, in October; one specimen received from 
Mr. F. P. Dodd. 


CRYPTOBLABES ADOCETA 2. Sp. 


é6oxytos, plain, inglorious. 

3 2 14-16 TT. Head, thorax, and palpi fuscous. An- 
tennae fuscous; in ¢ thickened, simple but slightly serrate 
towards apex, very minutely ciliated. Abdomen pale grey. 
Legs fuscous irrorated with whitish. Forewings moderately 
elongate, costa at first straight, rather strongly arched beyond 
middle, apex rounded, termen obliquely rounded ; fuscous with 
whitish irroration, towards termen obscurely reddish-fuscous ; a 
pale oblique fascia from 4 costa to 2 dorsum; a dark discal dot 
at #, sometimes a second dot between this and costa; a narrow 
dark angulated fascia from 2 costa to + dorsum; a subterminal 
dark blotch; a series of dark fuscous terminal dots; cilia grey 
irrorated with whitish. Hindwings with termen rounded; 
whitish, slightly suffused with grey at apex and along termen ; 
cilia whitish. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 151 


N.Q., Townsville, in May; one g (type) received from Mr. 
F. P. Dodd. Q., Brisbane, in March and April; two 9? @. 
Warwick, in April; one wasted ?. 

(ren. 37. CEROPREPES. 

Ceroprepes, Zel., Stet. Ent. Zeit. 1867, p. 401. Hmps., 
Moths Ind. iv., p. 108. 

CEROPREPES MNIAROPIS, 2. sp. 

Pvlapew7is, MOSsy. 

9 22 mm. Head and thorax ochreous-whitish, greenish- 
tinged. Palpi brown-whitish irrorated with dark fuscous. 
Antennae ochreous-whitish annulated with dark fuscous. 
Abdomen whitish irrorated with pale fuscous. Legs whitish, 
greenish-tinged, femora, tibiae, and tarsi banded with dark- 
fuscous. Forewings strongly dilated posteriorly, costa rather 
strougly arched, apex rounded, termen slightly oblique, slightly 
rounded ; whitish irrorated with pale grecn; disc between + and 
4 wholly suffused with pale green; a pale fuscous suffusion 
at base; a dark fuscous line, somewhat outwardly curved from 
2 costa to mid-dorsum; closely preceded by a parallel line, 
which is similar towards costa, but between fold and dorsum 
consist of a very elevated ridge of raised scales ; a fine indistinct 
fuscous dentate line from $ costa, abruptly inwardly bent above 
dorsum, on which it ends at #; this line is edged posteriorly 
with reddish-brown, and succeeded by a fuscous suffusion 
towards apex; a series of wedge-shaped fuscous terminal dots ; 
cilia whitish. Hindwings with termen rounded; pale-grey, 
darker towards termen ; cilia whitish. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

Q., Mt. Tambourine, in February ; one specimen. 


(Gen. 388. ScLEROBIA. 


Selerobia, Rag. 
SCLEROBIA TRITALIS. 


Hypochalchia tritalis, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxvil., p. 47. 
Eucarphia vulgatella, Meyr., P.L,S.N.S.W. 1878, p. 207. 
Q., Bundaberg, Nambour, Brisbane, Stanthorpe. N.S.W., 
Tenterfield, Ben Lomoud, Sydney, Bowenfels. V. Melbourne. 
Peetobart. W.A., Perth. 
++ SCLEROBIA NEOTOMELLA. 
Eucarphia neotomella, Meyr., P.U,S.N.S.W. 1879, p. 226. 
N.S.W., Sydney. 
++ SCLEROBIA CNEPHAEELLA. 
Sclerobia cnephacella, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1879, p. 227. 
N.S.W., Sydney. 


152 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


Gen. 39. Evrrena. 

Etiella, Zel., Isis., 1846, p. 733. Hmps., Moths Ind. iv., 

p. 108. 
| ETIELLA ZINCKENELLA. 

Etiella zinckenella, Treit., Schmett. Kur ix. 50, p. 201. 
Hmps., Moths Ind. iv., p. 108. 

There is one wasted specimen (type anticalis, Wlk.) of this 
cosmopolitan species in the British Museum, said to be from 
Australia. The locality requires confirmation. 

ETIELLA BEHRII. 

Etiella behrii, Zel. Isis. 1848, p. 888. Meyr., P.L.S.N.8.W. 
1878, p. 205. 

N.A., Port Darwin. Q., Brisbane, Mt. Tambourine, Stan- 
thorpe. N.S.W., Glen Innes, Newcastle, Sydney, Bathurst, 
Katoomba, Cooma. V., Melbourne, Gisborne, Kewell. §8.A., 
Adelaide. W.A., Albany, Perth. 

ETIELLA CHRYSOPORELLA. 

Etiella chrysoporella, Meyr., P.L.S.N.8.W. 1878, p. 206. 

N.Q., Townsville. Q., Duaringa, Brisbane, Toowoomba. 
N.S.W., Bathurst. V., Melbourne. §.A., Adelaide. W.A., 
Geraldton, Carnarvon. 

ETIELLA SINCERELLA. 

Etiella sincerella, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1878, p. 204. 

N.Q., Townsville. Q., Brisbane, Stanthorpe. N.S.W., 
Sydney. 

ETIELLA WALSINGHAMELLA. 

Ktiella walsinghamella, Rag. 

N.A., Port Darwin (Coll. Lyell). N.Q., Townsville (Dodd). 

ETIELLA MELANELLA. 

Etiella melanella, Hmps. 

N.A., Port Darwin, in May; two specimens received from 
Mr. G. Lyell. 


ETIELLA HOLOZONA. 
Etiella holozona, Low., Tr. R.S.8.A. 1908, p. 57. 
Q., Brisbane ? (Lower). 
Gen. 40. Batanomis. 
Balanomis, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1887, p. 264. 
t+ BALANOMIS ENCYCLIA. 
Balanomis encyclia, Meyr., Tr. E.8. 1887, p. 265. 
N.S.W., Newcastle. 
Gen. 41. Oxypista. 
Oaydisia, Hmps. 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 


+ OXYDISIA HYPERYTHRELLA. 


Oxydisia hyperythrella, Hmps. 
Q., Peak Downs. 


Gen. 42. LornHorHoRACcta. 
Lophothoracia, Hmps. 
+ LOPHOTHORACIA OMPHALELLA. 


Lophothoracia omphalella, Hmps. 
Q., Peak Downs. 


Gen. 43. SEMPRONIA. 
Sempronia, Rag. 

++ SEMPKONIA STYGELLA. 
Sempronia stygella, Rag. 


Gen. 44. Vunicta. 
Vinicia, Rag. 
+ VINICIA GYPSOPA. 
gypsopa, Meyr. 
W.A., Albany, Perth, York, Carnarvon. 
+ VINICIA MACROTA. 
Epicrocis macrota, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1887, p. 258. 
W.A., Carnarvon. 
+ VINICIA EUCOMETIS. 


Salebria eucometis, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1882, p. 168. 
Salebria squamicornis, Butl., Tr. E.S8. 1886, p. 489. 
Q., Peak Downs, Brisbane. 


Gen. 45. MryYRICKIELLA 
Meyrickiella, Rag. 
+ MEYRICKIELLA HOMOSEMA. 


Hypophana homosema, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1887, p. 264. 
W.A. Perth, York, Geraldton, Carnarvon. 


Gen. 46. ConosaTHRA. 
Conobathra, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1887, p. 271. 


++ CONOBATHRA AUTOMORPHA. 
Conobathra automorpha, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1887, p. 271. 
N.Q. Also from New Guinea. 


Gen. 47. TETRALOPHA. 
Tetralopha, Zel., Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1887, p. 256. 


++ TETRALOPHA PIRATIS. 
Tetralopha piratis, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1887, p. 257. 
Queensland. 


153 


164 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


Sus. Fam. GALLERIANAB. 


A group of small size but almost universal distribution, 
which is proportionately well represented in Australia. 


a. Forewings with veins 7 and 8 stalked. 
B. Hindwings with vein 5 absent. 
o. Hindwings with cell open. 
p. Forewings with 5 absent. ... --. JL. Coreamas 
pp. Forewings with 5 present. 
gE. Forewings of 3 with costa folded 
over beneath and bearing a agi 
glandular swelling ... 2. Hypolophota. 
EE. Forewings of ¢ not folded over 
beneath. 
F. Forewings with 9 arising from 8 
before 7. 
G. Forewings narrow-elongate; hind- 
wings with 7 anastomosing 
with 8 nearly to apex ... 3. Parelpam 
aa. Forewings not narrow-elongate ; 
hindwings with 7 anastomosing 
with 8 not more than half its 


length. 
H. Forewings elongate-oval, apex 
and termen rounded... ... 4. Melissoblaptes. 


HH. Forewings ratber broad, apex 
rounded - pe termen 


straight. ... ... 5. Doloéssa. 
FF. Forewings with 7 arising from 8 
before 9. 
Gc. Hindwings with 7 anastomosing 
strongly with 8. ... 6. Heteromicta. 
«c. Hindwings with 7 connected wie 
8 at a point only. 7. Tirathaba. 
oo. Hindwings with cell closed. ... 8. Meliphora. 
BB. Hindwings with 5 present. 
o. Hindwings with cell open.... .» 9. Lamoria. 


p. Forewings with 7 from 8 before 9.... 10. Hucallionyma. 
pp. Forewings with 9 from 8 before 7. 11. Galleria. 
aa. Forewings with 7 and 8 separate. ... 12. Balaenifrons. 


The genera Galleristhenia and Eldana are not included in 
this tabulation, as I do not know their characters. 


BY A. FEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 155 


Gen. 1. Corcyra. 
Corcyra, Rag. Meyr, Brit: Lep., p. 884. 


CORCYRA ASTHENITIS, 2. sp. 

agGevos, feeble. 

3 2 14-18 mm. Head, thorax and palpi grey whitish. 
Antennae grey. Abdomen cchreous-whitish. Legs, whitish, 
anterior pair fuscous; middle pair irrorated with fuscous. 
Forewings elongate-oval, costa moderately arched, more strongly 
in 2, apex, round-pointed ; termen very obliquely rounded ; 
grey whitish irrorated with fine blackish scales, which form a 
fine median streak from base to middle, and some imperfect 
streaks on veins; an interrupted blackish terminal line; cilia 
grey whitish. Hindwings with termen somewhat sinuate ; 
whitish ; cilia whitish. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

N.Q., Townsville, in August ; two specimens received from 
Mr. F. P. Dodd. 

Gen. 2. Hyponopnota, nov. 

tzoXodoros, crested beneath. 

Face with a conical hairy tuft directed forwards. Tongue 
very small. Palpi of g short, ascending, closely appressed to 
frons, not reaching vertex; of ? well-developed, porrect. An- 
tennae, of f simple, minutely ciliated. Forewings of $ with 
basal half of costa enlarged and bent underneath, terminating in 
& large glandular swelling covered with long hairs. Forewings 
with vein 2 from #, 8 from angle, 4 and 5 well separated at base, 
9 arising from 8 before or after 7, or absent. Hindwings with 
cell open, 8 and 4 stalked, 7 anastomosing with 8. 

Type H. oddes, Turn. 

The genus is well characterised by the structure of the fore- 
wings of the 3, which is the same in both species, though the 
variation in the neuration is certainly baffling to the systematist. 


HYPOLOPHOTA OODES, 7. sp. 

awdns, oval ; in allusion to the forewings. 

3 2? 15-22 mm. Head, thorax, palpi, and antennae grey. 
Palpi in @ moderate (13). Abdomen grey-whitish. Legs grey 
irrorated with dark-fuscous. Forewings oval, costa rather 
strongly arched, apex rounded, termen obliquely rounded ; vein 
9 absent; pale-grey, irrorated and veins streaked with dark- 
fuscous, a broad suffused outwardly curved dark fuscous line 
from 4 costa to ? dorsum; a similar line from # costa, forming 
a strong outward projection below middle to before tornus; a fine 


156 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


dark fuscous terminal line ; cilia grey, basal half irrorated with 
dark fuscous, extreme apices whitish. Hindwings with termen 
rounded, slightly sinuate beneath apex; grey-whitish; cilia 
grey-whitish, towards tornus and inner margin whitish. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

N.Q., Townsville, in September and October ; seven speci- 
mens received from Mr. F. P. Dodd. 


HYPOLOPHOTA AMYDRASTIS, 2. S). 


apvdpos, dim, indistinct. 

3 2 18-25 mm. Head, thorax, palpi and antennae, grey 
or whitish grey. Palpiin ? rather long (23). Abdomen, grey- 
whitish. Legs grey, irrorated with fuscous; posterior pair 
whitish. Forewings ovate-oblong, costa moderately arched, 
apex rounded, termen obliquely rounded ; pale grey finely 
irrorated with darker grey; without distinct markings; some- 
times an indistinct pale line at 5, parallel to termen; cilia, 
whitish grey, with an imperfect grey median line. Hindwings 
with termen rounded, slightly sinuate; grey whitish; cilia, 
grey whitish. 

In one gf and one ? vein 9 arises from 8 beyond 7; in 
another ¢§ 9 arises from well before 7. 

Type in Coll, Turner. 

N.Q., Townsville, in September and October ; three 
specimens received from Mr. F. P. Dodd. 


Gen. 38. PARALIpsa. 


PARALIPSA STENOPEPLA, 7. Sp. 


otevoremAos, narrow-cloaked. 

?. 23 mM. Head, thorax, palpi, antennae, and abdomen 
pale grey. Legs whitish; anterior pair grey; middle pair with 
some dark fuscous irroration. Forewings very elongate-oval, 
costa rather strongly arched, apex round-pointed, termen very 
obliquely rounded ; pale-grey irrorated with whitish, and, espe- 
cially towards base, with blackish scales; an elongate blackish 
median discal dot or short streak, surrounded by whitish irrora- 
tion; some blackish scales on termen; cilia grey-whitish. 
Hindwing with termen slightly sinuate; whitish-grey; cilia 
whitish. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

N.Q., Townsville, in September; one specimen received 
from Mr. F. P. Dodd. 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E,S. 157 


Gen. 4. MELISSOBLAPTES. 
Melissoblaptes, Zel. 
Meyr., Brit. Lep., p. 384. 


MELISSOBLAPTES BARYPTERA. 


Melissoblaptes baryptera, Low., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1901, p. 659. 
V. Birchip. §8.A., Adelaide. 


+ MELISSOBLATES SORDIDELLA. 
Gyrtona sordidella, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat., xxxv, p. 1728. 
Melissoblaptes sordidella, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1887, p. 252. 
N.S.W., Katoomba. 


+ MELISSOBLAPTES HILAROPIS. 
hilaropis, Meyr. 


++ MELISSOBLAPTES AGRAMMA. 


Melissoblaptes agramma, Low., Tr. R.8.8.A. 1908, p. 49. 
N.Q., Cooktown, Mackay (?) (Lower). Also from 
Louisiades. | 
++ MELISSOBLAPTES AEGIDIA. 
Melissoblaptes aegidia, Meyr., Tr. K.S. 1887, p. 252. 
S.A., Mt. Lofty. 
Gen. 5. Dotoxssa. 
Doloéssa, Rag. 
{| DOLOESSA HILAROPIS. 
Doloéssa hilaropis, Meyr. 
N.Q., Cooktown. 
DOLOESSA CASTANELLA. 
Thagora castanella, Hmps., Moths Ind., iv, p. 4. 
Q., Brisbane, one @ which Sir Geo. Hampson has identi- 
fied with his species and referred to this genus. Also from 
Ceylon. 


Gen. 6. WHerERomicta. 


Heteromicta, Meyr. 


HETEROMICTA TRIPARTITELLA. 


Aphomia tripartitella, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1879, p. 236. 
N.A., Port Darwin. Q., Brisbane, Mount Tambourine. 
N.S.W., Sydney. 
HETEROMICTA PACHYTERA. 
Aphomia pachytera, Meyr., P.L.8.N.S.W. 1879, p. 237. 
Q., Brisbane, Warwick. N.S.W., Tenterfield, Sydney. V., 
Melbourne. T., Hobart. §.A., Quorn. W.A., Geralton. 


158 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


HETEROMICTA LATRO, 

Melissoblaptes latro, Zel., zool-bot. v., 1878, p. 218. 

Aphomia latro, Meyr., P.L.5.N.S.W. 1879, p. 238. 

Although very different in appearance to the preceding 
species, there appears to be no structural difference to justify 
generic separation. 

Q., Brisbane. N.S.W., Sydney. V., Gisborne. S.A., Ade- 
laide. 

+ HETEROMICTA OCHRACEELLA. 
Heteromicta ochraceella, Hmps. 


N.Q., Cooktown. 


|} HETEROMICTA NIGRICOSTELLA. 

Heteromicta nigricostella, Hmps. 

Q., 

HETEROMICTA POLIOSTOLA, 2. S)). 

toAwwgToAos, grey-cloaked. 

? 25 mm. Head, thorax, palpi, and antennae pale-grey. 
Palpi of ? porrect, rather long (24); terminal joint down- 
curved. Abdomen whitish. Legs whitish, irrorated with pale 
grey. Forewings elongate-oval, costa rather strongly arched, 
apex rounded, termen very obliquely rounded; whitish 
irrorated with grey; a broadly suffused grey line from 4 
costa to 4 dorsum; a grey median discal dot; a postmedian 
grey line # costa to ? dorsum, angled outwards in middle; cilia 
grey mixed with whitish. Hindwings with termen rounded ; 
whitish ; towards apex and termen suffused with pale grey ; cilia 
whitish. 

Allied to H. pachytera, Meyr., but the lines of forewings 
are broader and more suffused, the postmedian line not dentate, 
the discal dot single and not dark fuscous, and there is no dark 
fuscous terminal line. The palpi of the ? are longer. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

Q., Brisbane ; one specimen received from Mr. F. P. Dodd. 

Gen. 7. ‘TrRaTHABA. 
Tirathaba, W1k., Brit. Mus. Cat., xxx., p. 961. 
Mucialla, W1k., Brit. Mus. Cat., xxxv., p. 1739. Hmps.» 


Moths Ind., iv., p. 5. 
TIRATHABA RUFIVENA. 


Lamoria (?) rufivena, W1k., Brit. Mus. Cat., xxx., p. 960. 

Mucialla rufivena, Hmps., Moths Ind., iv., p. 5. 

N.Q., Townsville, from December to March; three speci- 
mens received from Mr. F. P. Dodd. Also from New Guinea, 
Borneo, Ceylon and India. 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 159 


TIRATHABA HEPIALIVORA. 
hepialivora, Hmps. 
Melissoblaptes parasiticus, Luc., P.R.S.Q. 1898, p. 85. 
N.Q., Townsville; Q., Brisbane. 
+ TIRATHABA COMPLANA. 
Aphomia complana, F. & R., Reise Nov. Pl., 187, f. 6. 
N.Q., Geraldton. Also from Louisiades and Amboyua. 
+ TIRATHABA ACROCAUSTA. 
acrocausta, Meyr. 
N.Q., Cooktown. Also from Louisiades and Sangir. 
Gen. 8. MeEtripHora. 
Achroia, Hb., Verz., p. 163. Hmps., Moths Ind., iv., p. 6. 
(praeocc). 
Meliphora, Gn., Meyr, Brit. Lep., p. 383. 
MELIPHORA GRISELLA. 
grisella, Fab. 
Achroia grisella, Hmps., Moths Ind. iv., p. 6. 
Dr. Thos. Bancroft bas bred this species from larvae 
feeding on dried figs. 
Q., Nambour, Brisbane. N.S.W., Sydney. V., Melbourne. 
Gen. 9. Lamorta. 
Lamoria, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxvii, p. 87. Hmps., 
Moths Ind., iv., p. 6. 
LAMORIA ADAPTELLA. 
Pempelia ? adaptella, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxvii, p. 74. 
Hmps., Moths Ind., iv., p. 7. 
N.Q., Townsville. Also from Ceylon, India, Africa and 
Europe. 


+ LAMORIA PACHYLEPIDELLA. 
pachylepidella, Amps. 
N.Q., Cooktown. 


Gen. 10. EKucaLuionyma. 
Callionyma, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1882, p. 161 (praeocc.). 
Eucallionyma, Rag. 

EUCALLIONYMA SARCODES. 
Callionyma sarcodes, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1882, p. 172. 
Q., Brisbane, Warwick. N.S.W., Murrurundi, Sydney. 

} EUCALLIONYMA MEDIOZONALIS. 
Eucallionyma mediozonalis, Hmps. 
N.W.A., Sherlock River. 
(ten. 11. GaALuERia. 
Galleria, Fab., Syst., Suppl., p. 462. Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 
1882, p. 160. Hmps., Moths Ind. iv., p. 8. 


160 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


GALLERIA MELLONELLA. 

Phalaena mellonella, Lin., Syst. Nat. (ed. x) i, p. 587. 

Galleria mellonella, Hmps., Moths Ind. iv., p. 9. 

Q., Brisbane, Dalby. V., Gisborne. W.A., Perth. 

Gen. 12. BaALAENIFRONS. 

‘Balaenifrons, Hmps., Moths Ind. iv., p. 9. 

| BALAENIFRONS HAEMATOGRAPHA. 

Balaenifrons haematographa, Hmps. 

N.Q., Cooktown. 

+ BALAENIFRONS PHOENICOZONA. 

Balaenifrons phoenicozona, Hmps. 

N.Q., Cooktown. 

Gen. 13. CGALLERISTHENIA. 

Galleristhenia, Hmps. 

+} GALLERISTHENIA MELLONIDIELLA,. 
Galleristhenia mellonidiella, Hmps. 
Q. 
Gren, 14, Exupana. 
+} ELDANA LEUCOSTICTALIS. 

Eldana leucostictalis, Low., Tr. R.S.S.A. 1908, p. 50. 

Q., Brisbane ? (Lower). 

Suspram. CRAMBINAE. 

The Crambinae are probably the best known subfamily of 
the Australian Pyralidae. This region is jremarkable for the 
very few species of the large cosmopolitan genus Crambus, and 
for the large development of Jalis which}appears to take its 
place. The species of the last genus are almost wholly;confined 
to the temperate portions of the continent. 

a. Hindwings with vein 6 from upper angle of cell. 
B. Forewings with vein 7 absent 
o. Forewings with 11 anastomosing with 
12 ware Ptochostola. 
cc. Forewings with 11 free ... .. 2. Culladia: 
BB. Forewings with 7 and 8 stalked 
c. Hindwings with 8 closely approxi- 


mated to cell. 
p. Forewings with 2 and 3 stalked ... 3. Auturotis. 


pp. Forewings with 2 and 3 separate. 
g. Forewings with 10 and 11 stalked 4. Neargyria. 
EE. Forewings with 10 and 11 separate 5. Crambus. 
cc. Hindwings with 8 not approximated 


to cell. 
p. Forewings with vein 11 absent ... 6. Anaclastis. 


_ 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 161 


pp. Forewings with vein 11 present .... 7. Mesolia, 
BBB. Forewings with vein 7 present and 
separate. 
c. Hindwings with 4 and 5 connate or 
stalked. 
p. Frons rounded. 
gE. Tongue weak or absent. Antennae 
in g pectinate, in @ serrate 9. Ubida. 
EE. Tongue well-developed. Antennae 


simple 
F. Hindwings with vein 8 not closely 

approximated to cell wee On ARHUTIC, 
FF. Hindwings with vein 8 closely 

approximated to cell .-- LO. Thinasotia 


pp. Frons with conical protuberance 
gE. Forewings with 11 straight and 


oblique... aa con UL sCamueas 
EE. Forewings with 11 curved and 
approximated to 12 coup dae -Ohtlo: 


cc. Hindwings with 4 and 5 separate 
p. Frons with strong conical protube- 
rance an oae ... 183. Sedenia. 
pp. Frons rounded. 
gE. Forewings not incised. Antennae 


of 3S pectinated.... . 14. Hurhythma. 
£E. Forewings incised beneath apex. 
Antennae of g simple ... 15. Diptychophora. 


aa. Hindwings with 6 from well below 
angle of cell. 
B. Forewings with 7, 8, 9, stalked .-- 16.  Ancylolomia. 
BB. Forewings with 7 separate suse le Dalia. 
Gen. 1. Procuostowa. 

Ptochostola, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1882, p. 154. 

Sir Geo. Hampson describes and figures vein 7 as present 
in the forewings ; according to my observations Mr. Meyrick is 
correct in stating its absence. Vein 5 appears to be constantly 
absent in both wings. The genus should probably be restricted 
to the single species; two South American forms associated 
with it by Hampson differ in neuration. 

PTOCHOSTOLA MICROPHAEELLA. 
Crambus microphaeellus, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxxv., p. 


1758. 
Crambus dimidiellus, Meyr., P.U.S.N.S.W. 1878, p. 190. 
iu 


162 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


Q., Rockhampton, Brisbane, Stradbroke Island, Too- 
woomba, Dalby, Stanthorpe; N.S.W., Newcastle, Sydney, 
Katoomba, Bathurst; V., Gisborne, Melbourne; T., Launceston, 
Hobart; 8.A., Penola; W.A., Albany. 

Gen. 2. Cuuapia. 

Culladia, Moore, Lep. Ceyl. iii., p. 382. 

The neuration varies, vein 5 may be stalked or coincident 
with 4 in both wings. 

CULLADIA ADMIGRATELLA. 

Araves admigratella, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxvii., p. 192. 

Culladia admigratella, Hmps., Moths Ind. iv., p 11. 

N.Q., Cairns and Townsville, in August. Also from 
Borneo, China, Ceylon, India and Africa. 

Gen, 3. AuvTAROTIS. 

Autarotis, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1886, p. 269. 

AUTAROTIS EURYALA. 
Autarotis euryala, Meyr., Tr. E.8. 1886, p 270. 
N.Q., Townsville, in December; one specimen received 
from Mr. F. P. Dodd. Cooktown. 
Also from Louisiades and Fiji. 
Gen. 4. Neareyria. 

Neargyria, Hmps., P.Z.S. 1895, p. 928. 

Argyria, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1882, p. 154, nec Hb. 
NEARGYRIA ARGYRASPIS. 

Argyria argyraspis, Meyr., P..8.N.8.W. 1879, p. 216. 

N.Q., Cairns, Kuranda. Q., Brisbane, Mt. Tambourine, 
Warwick, Killarney. N.S.W., Bulli, Kiama, Wollongong. 

Gen. 5. CRAMBUS. 

Crambus, Fab., Ent. Syst. Suppl. p. 464. Hmps., P.Z.S. 
1895, p. 925. 

A very large genus but scantily represented in Australia, 
where its place is taken by Talis, Gn. In it I include 
Calamotropha, Zel., to which the first five species might be 


referred. 
CRAMBUS DIELOTUS. 


Calamatropha dielota, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1886, p. 268. 
N.A., Adelaide River; N.Q., Thursday Island. Also from 


Fiji and Ceram. 
CRAMBUS ANTICELLUS. 


Ancylolomia ? anticella, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxxy., p. 
ipl. 

Crambus anticellus, Hmps., Moths Ind. iv., p. 18. 

N.A., Port Darwin; N.Q., Cooktown, Townsville. Also 


from Ceylon, India and Africa. 


BY A, JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 1638 


CRAMBUS LEPTOGRAMMELLUS. 

Chilo parramatellus, 2, Meyr., P.U.S5.N.S.W. 1878, p. 178. 

Chilo leptogrammellus, Meyr., P.L.8.N.S.W. 1879, p. 207. 

Q., Brisbane, Dalby; N.S.W., ‘Tenterfield, Sydney ; 
N.W.A., Roebourne (Coll. Lyell). 

CRAMBUS PARRAMATTELLUS. 

Chilo parramattellus, f, Meyr., P.L.5.N.S.W. 1878, p. 178. 

Readily distinguished from the preceding by the absence of 
terminal dots on forewings. 

Q., Brisbane, Stradbroke Island ; N.S.W., Sydney. 

CRAMBUS. DELATALIS. 

Crambus delatalis, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxvii, p. 176. 
Hmps, Moths, Ind. iv., p. 13. 

N.Q., Townsville; Q., Brisbane; V., Gisborne; also 
from Ceylon and Africa. 

+ CRAMBUS MEDIORADIELLUS. 

Crambus medioradiellus, Hmps. 

N.Q., Cooktown. 

CRAMBUS MALACELLUS. 

Crambus malacellus, Dup., Lep. Fr, vii., p. 61. 

Orambus hapaliscus, Zel., K. Vet. Ak. Handl., Stockholm, 
1854, p. 71. 

Crambus conciunellus, Wlk., Brit, Mus. Cat., xxvii, p. 165. 
Meyr., P..5.N.5.W., 1878, p. 182. 

N.Q., Cooktown; Q., Rockhampton, Brisbane, Mount 
Tambourine, Stanthorpe; N.S.W., Sydney; also from New 
Guinea, Borneo, Ceylon, India, Africa and Europe. 

CRAMBUS CUNEIFERELLUS. 

Crambus cuneiferellus, Wik., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxvii, p. 175, 
Meyr., P.L.8.N.S.W., 1878, p. 189. 

N.Q., Kuranda, Geraldton, Mackay; Q., Rockhampton, 
Peak Downs, Nambour, Brisbane, Stradbroke Island, Stan- 
thorpe ; N.S.W., Newcastle, Sydney, Katoomba; V., Melbourne ; 
also from Norfolk Island, New Hebrides and Tonga. 


CRAMBUS PHOTOLEUCUS. 

Crambus photoleuca, Low., Tr. R.S8.5.A. 1908, p. 51. 

? 18 ILM. Head white, base of side-tufts ochreous; face 
rounded, slightly projecting. Palpi white, external surface 
pale brownish-ochreous. Antennae grey. Thorax white. 
Abdomen whitish-grey. Legs white; tarsi, anterior, and middle 
tibiae pale-brownish. Forewings elongate, posteriorly dilated, 
costa gently arched, apex rounded, termen obliquely rounded ; 


164 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


veins 4 and 5 connate or short-stalked ; snow-white; markings 
pale brownish-ochreous ; a short outwardly oblique streak from 
costa beyond middle; a similar streak from costa at $ continued 
as a fine line obliquely outwards towards mid-termen, then bent 
inwards to dorsum before tornus; a third streak from costa 
before apex, continued as a fine line to termen above 
middle ; a fine darker terminal line; cilia bases white barred with 
fuscous except towards apex and tornus, apices pale brownish- 
ochreous. Hindwings with termen slightly sigmoid; whitish ; 
cilia white. 

N.Q., Townsville, in January and March; two specimens 
received from Mr. IF. P. Dodd. 


++ CRAMBUS DIANIPHUS. 


Crambus dianipha, Low., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1891, p. 660. 
N.W.A., Derby (Lower). 


Gen. 6. ANACLASTIS, nov. 


dvaxAaoros, broken; in allusion to termen of forewings. 

Face with a conical anterior projection. Tongue present. 
Labial palpi long (5), porrect, densely clothed with long hairs. 
Antennae of somewhat thickened, shortly ciliated (4). Fore- 
wings with veins 5, 7, and 11 absent. Hindwings with vein 
5 absent, 7 anastomosing strongly with 8, 8 well separated 
from cell. 

A development of Mesolia, Rag., of which genus Sir Geo. 
Hampson considers it a section ; but it appears to me sufiiciently 
distinct. 

ANACLASTIS APICISTRIGELLA. 
Crambus apicistrigellus, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1879, p, 209. 
Q., Brisbane; N.S.W., Sydney. 
Gen. 7. Meson. 

Mesolia, Rag., Ann. Ent. Soc. Fr. 1888, p. 282. Hmps., 

P.Z.S. 1895, p. 962. 


MESOLIA SCYTHRASTIS, 1. sp. 

okv0pos, gloomy. 

@ 20-22 mm. Head, thorax, palpi and antennae dark- 
fuscous. Abdomen fuscous. Legs whitish; anterior pair 
suffused with fuscous. Forewings elongate, costa nearly 
straight, apex rounded, termen slightly oblique, indented at 4 
from apex, beneath rounded; veins 4 and 5 long-stalked ; 
fuscous; towards termen paler; dorsal area beneath fold 
irrorated with whitish ; a transverse dark-fuscous streak between 
fold and mid-dorsum ; a whitish spot edged with dark-fuscous 


BY A. FEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 165 


beneath costa at 4; a posterior line of dark-fuscous spots edged 
posteriorly with whitish, sometimes partly obsolete, first on 
costa at 2, three or four on veins near termen, last on tornus; a 
fine dark-fuscous terminal line; cilia fuscous with a fine whitish 
basal line, succeeded by an indistinct darker fuscous line, and 
this again by a whitish line only developed near apex. Hind- 
wings with termen rounded, faintly sinuate beneath apex, veins 
4 and 5 long-stalked ; grey; cilia whitish with a fine grey line 
near bases. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

N.Q., Townsville, in November; two specimens. 

(ren. 8. ARGYRIA. 

Argyria, Hb., Verz, p. 372. 

Platytes, Gu., Ind Meth, p. 86. Hmps., P.Z.S., 1895, 
p. 943. 

ARGYRIA PLUMBEOLINEALIS. 

Platytes plumbeolinealis, Hmps., P.Z.S. 1895, p. 947. 

N.Q., Townsville in December ; five bred specimens 
received from Mr. F. P. Dodd. Also from Bali, Ceylon, India 


and Africa. 
ARGYRIA AMOENALIS. 


amoenalis, Snel. 

Very closely resembling the preceding species, best 
distinguished from it by the different form of antemedian line 
of forewings, which is not indented in middle. Mr. F. P. Dodd, 
who bred both species, tells me that the larvae and food-plants 
differ. 

N.Q., Townsville, in December. Q., Brisbane, in January, 
Also from New Guinea and Bali. 

Gen. 9. Ubsrpa. 

Ubida, W1k., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxvii., p. 185. Hmps., P.Z.S. 
1895, p. 954. 

Crunophila, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1882, p. 152. 

UBIDA RAMOSTRIELLA. 

Crambus ramostriellus, W1k., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxvii., p. 172. 

Chilo ? schistellus, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1879, p. 207. 

Q., Duaringa, Brisbane, Stradbroke Island; N.S.W., 
Sydney. 

UBIDA HOLOMOCHLA, 2. sp. 

dAopoxAos, With unbroken bar. 

g.24 mm. Head whitish. Labial and maxillary palpi 
fuscous, white on upper surface. Antennae grey; in g shortly 
pectinated (14) to apex. Thorax white; patagiae except apices 


166 


AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


fuscous. Abdomen white. Legs whitish ; anterior and middle 
pairs fuscous on anterior surface. Forewings oblong, costa 
slightly arched, apex rounded, termen slightly oblique, slightly 
rounded: white, markings fuscous-grey; a broad streak from 
base of costa to apex leaving a broad white streak along costa ; 
the posterior part of subcostal streak gives off two fine streaks 
parallel to veins to termen; an unbroken median streak from 
base to termen beneath middle ; a dot on termen above tornus ; 
cilia white. Hindwings with termen rounded; white; cilia 
white. 


Very neatly marked and readily distinguished from the 


preceding by the median bar not being interrupted by oblique 
white streaks. 


Type in Coll. Turner. 
N.Q., Townsville, in January; one specimen received from 


Mr. F. P. Dodd. 


Gen. 10. Tutnasorttia. 


Thinasotia, Hb., Verz. p. 866. 
Ido not know the type of this genus, nor whether the 


following species is rightly referred here. It agrees with Chilo 
except in the rounded frons, but consorts ill with Argyria 
(Platytes, Gn.) to which Sir Geo. Hampson refers it. I hope 
the distinction given in the table may prove sufficient. 


P.Z. 


THINASOTIA PENTADACTYLA. 
pentadactylus, Zel., Mon. Cramb., p. 38. 
Aquita claviferella, Wik,., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxxv., 1765. 
V., Melbourne ; T., Hobart; also from New Zealand. 


Gen. 11. Canuza. 
Canuza, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxxv, p. 1771. Hmps., 
8. 1895, p. 949. 
Erotomanes, Meyr., P.U.S.N.S.W. 1882, p. 152. 


+ CANUZA EUSPILELLA. 

Canuza euspilella, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxxv, p. 1771. 
Anerastia mirabilella, Meyr., P.U.S.N.S.W. 1879, p. 218. 
N.S.W., Sydney. 

¢+ CANUZA AOMIAS. 
Canuza acmias, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1897, p. 379. 
N.S.W., Sydney. 

Gen. 12. CuHILo. 
Chilo, Zinck., Germ. Mag. ii, 36 (1817). Hmps., P.Z.S. 


1895, p. 954. 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 167 


CHILO LATIVITTALIS. 
Crambus lativittalis. Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxvii., p. 171, 
Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W., 1878, p. 183. 
Q., Stradbroke Island; N.S.W., Sydney, Katoomba ; 
V., Melbourne, Gisborne; T., Deloraine, George’s Bay; S.A., 
Ardrossan; W.A., Albany, Perth. 
+ CHILO TORRENTELLUS. 
Crambus torrentellus, Meyr., P.U.S.N.5.W., 1878, p. 184. 
Q., Duaringa. Also from India and Africa. 
+ CHILO STRIGATELLUS. 
Chilo strigatellus, Hmps. 
N.W.A., Sherlock River. 
CHILO OXYPRORA. 
ogutpwpos, with pointed prow; in allusion to the frontal 
process. | 
g.20 mm. Head and thorax ochreous-whitish ; frons 
with a conical protuberance ending in a sharp slightly down- 
curved point; tongue weakly developed.  Palpi long (4) ; 
ochreous-whitish mixed with fuscous. Antennae fuscous; in J 
dentate with short ciliations (+). Abdomen ochreous-whitish. 
Legs ochreous-whitish ; anterior and middle pairs annulated 
with fuscous. Forewings elongate, posteriorly dilated, costa 
straight except close to base and apex, apex rounded, termen 
obliquely rounded ; fuscous mixed with dark-fuscous and ochreous- 
whitish ; an cchreous-whitish fascia from 4 costa, moderately 
broad, not reaching dorsum, edged posteriorly by a dark-fuscous 
line, which gives off a sharp posterior tooth in mid-disc; a 
fuscous discal dot beyond middle ; a well-marked sigmoid whitish 
line from 2 costa to 2 dorsum; a series of dark-fuscous terminal 
dots ; cilia fuscous. Hindwings with termen rounded ; ochreous- 
whitish with some greyish suffusion ; cilia whitish with a pale 
grey basal line. 
Not nearly allied to any Ausiralian species. 
Type in Coll. Lyell. 
V., Murtoa, in March ; two specimens. 
Gen. 13. SEDENTA. 
Sedenia, Gn., Lep. viii, p. 249. Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1884, p. 
841. Hmps., P.Z.S. 1895, p. 974. 
SEDENIA CERVALIS. 
Sedenia cervalis, Gn., Lep. villi, p. 250, Pl. iii, f. 3. 
Q., Brisbane, Toowoomba, Dalby, Warwick; N.S.W., 
Sydney ; V.—___——____;; T., Hobart; $.A., Mt. Lofty, 
Wirrabara. | 


168 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRILIDAE 


SEDENIA RUPALIS. 

Sedenia rupalis, Gn., Lep. viii, p. 250. 

Q., Toowoomba, Stanthorpe; N.S.W., Murrurundi, Bowen- 
fels; V., Melbourne, Gisborne; T., Hobart; S.A., Quorn; 
Kangaroo Island, Pt. Lincoln. 

SEDENIA XEROSCOPA. 

Sedenia xeroscopa, Low., P.L.S.N.S8.W. 1900, p. 37. 

Sedenia achroa, Low., P.U.S.N.S.W. 1901, p. 660. 

I have examined the type of achroa (labelled Derby), which 
Mr. Lower informs me is probably identical with xeroscopa from 
Broken Hill. 


SE ENIA POLYDESMA. 
Sedenia polydesma, Low., P.L.8.N.S.W. 1900, p. 38, 
N.S.W., Broken Hill. 

+} SEDENIA ERYTHRURA. 
Sedenia erythrura, Low., Tr. R.S.S.A. 1893, p. 165. 
§.A., Adelaide. 
Gen. 14. KuRHYTHMA nov. 

éupvO0s, well-proportioned. 

Frons rounded. Tongue well-developed. Palpi porrect, 
reaching well beyond frons, shortly hairy. Maxillary palpi 
triangularly scaled. Antennae in g pectinated. Forewings not 
incised beneath apex; vein 3 from before angle, 7 separate, 8 
and 9 stalked. Hindwings with veins 4 and 5 separate at base, 
7 anastomosing with 8. 

Differs from Argyria in the separation of veins 4 and 5 of 
the hindwings, and from Diptychopora in the forewings not being 
incised, and the pectinated antennae of the 3. 

EURHYTHMA LATIFASCIELLA. 

Platytes latifasciella, Hmps. 

I do not know the reference, but saw a specimen from Port 
Darwin in the British Museum which bore this name. 

N.A., Port Darwin, in January ; one specimen in Coll. Lyell. 

Gen. 15. DierycHopHora. 

Diptychophora, Zel., Stett. Ent. Zeit. 1866, p. 153. Meyr., 
P.L.8.N.8.W. 1882, p. 153. 

DIPTYCHOPHORA STENURA, 2. Sp. 

otevovpos, With narrow tails. 

gf ¢ 10-12 mm. Head ochreous-whitish. Palpi moderate 
(2), ochreous-whitish mixed with fuscous hairs. Antennae 
ochreous-whitish ; in ¢ simple, minutely ciliated (4). Thorax 
whitish. Abdomen pale-ochreous. Legs ochreous-whitish. 
Forewings triangular, costa moderately arched, apex round- 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 169 


pointed, termen oblique, straight, slightly indented above and 
less distinctly beneath middle; dorsum in both sexes with a 
fringe of long pale-ochreous hairs; whitish, sparsely irrorated 
with brownish and dark fuscous scales; two fine indistinct 
fuscous lines from 2 costa, strongly outwardly-curved so as to 
closely approach termen, then slightly inwardly-curved to before 
termen ; apical area ochreous-tinged, traversed by an outwardly 
oblique whitish sub-apical streak; four or five blackish dots 
separated by ochreous streaks on lower half of termen ; cilia 
fuscous. Hindwings with termen rounded, deeply incised before 
termen in both sexes, leaving a linear tornal lobe fringed with long 
hairs in both sexes ; vein 8 absent in both sexes; pale-ochreous ; 
cilia whitish ochreous. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

Q., Nambour, Brisbane, Mount Tambourine, in November, 
December and January; five specimens. 


DIPTYCHOPHORA OCHRACEALIS. 
Cataclysta ochracealis, W\k., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxxiv., p. 1338. 
Eromene praematurella, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1878, p. 198. 
Q., Nambour, Brisbane, Stradbroke Island, Mount Tam- 
bourine ; N.S.W., Sydney ; T., Hobart (Lyell). 


DIPTYCHOPHORA DILATELLA. 

Eromene dilatella, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1878, p. 199. 

N.S.W., Sydney; V., Gisborne. 

DIPTYCHOPHORA MICROXANTHA. 

Liptychophora microxantha, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1897, p. 880. 

V., Birchip. 

DIPTYCHOPHORA MOLYDOCROSSA 2. Sp. 
poAvBdokpoocos, leaden-bordered. 

2? 12 mm. Head.whitish. Palpi moderately long (24), 
ochreous broadly barred with fuscous before middle and at apex, 
upper surface whitish. Antennae pale-grey. Thorax whitish, 
patagia pale-brown. Abdomen pale-grey. Legs whitish ; 
anterior and middle pairs fuscous on anterior surface ; middle 
and posterior tarsi fuscous annulated with whitish. Forewings 
elongate-triangular, costa straight, apex rounded, termen 
oblique, sharply indented at 4+ and again in middle, rounded 
beneath ; whitish irrorated with pale-brownish and fuscous ; 
three outwardly curved lines commencing as short fuscous 
streaks on costa at 4, middle, and before 2, the first two lines 
very indistinct in disc; postmedian line slender, strongly out- 
wardly-curved above, ending at 2 dorsum, followed by a pale 


170 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


line ; a series of fine ochreous streaks on veins in posterior part 
of disc, not reaching termen; a triangular whitish subapical 
costal spot ; subterminal part of disc whitish strigulated with 
dark-fuscous scales ; a series of 7 or 8 minute blackish terminal 
dots separated by short ochreous streaks, extending equally from 
apex to tornus; cilia with bases forming a thick leaden-fuscous 
line, succeeded by a fine ochreous line, apices fuscous, at tornus 
whitish. Hindwings with termen somewhat indented; vein 3 
present; pale-grey becoming whitish towards bases; cilia 
whitish with a leaden basal line becoming obsolete towards 
tornus. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

Q., Nambour, in April; one specimen. 


DIPTYCHOPHORA ALYPOPHANES, 7. Sp. 


dduroparvns, of cheerful appearance. 

3 2 8-10 mm. Head ochreous-whitish. Palpi moderate 
(2); ochreous-whitish with some fuscous hairs. Antennae 
ochreous-whitish (in g broken). Thorax ochreous-whitish- 
Abdomen ochreous-whitish, base of dorsum whitish. Legs 
whitish ; anterior pair partly fuscous. Forewings triangular, 
costa moderately arched, apex round-pointed, termen oblique, 
straight, slightly indented at + and less distinctly in middle; 
whitish suffused with pale ochreous-brown and partly irrorated 
with fuscous; an indistinct transverse whitish basa! line; 
another better marked from +4 costa to 4+ dorsum, straight, 
followed by a dark line, which is again edged posteriorly with 
whitish ; a median slightly cutwardly-curved line of fuscous 
scales; a similar line from #2 costa, first curved outwards then 
parallel to termen to 4 dorsum; three blackish dots on lower 
part of termen ; cilia with a leaden-fuscous basal line, succeeded 
by a fine whitish line, apical halves fuscous. Hindwings with 
termen rounded, not indented; vein 8 present in both sexes ; 
whitish ; a slight fuscous suffusion at apex ; cilia whitish, with 
a basal fuscous line at apex. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

N.Q., Geraldton, in November, one specimen; Q., Bris- 
bane, one specimen. 

DIPTYCHOPHORA DIALEUCA DN. Sp. 


dcadkevkos, Marked with white. 

9.8 mm. Head whitish-ochreous. Palpi moderately long 
(8); whitish-ochreous with some fuscous hairs. Antennae grey. 
Thorax brownish-ochreous. Abdomen grey. Legs whitish ; 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 171 


anterior pair partly fuscous. Forewings triangular, costa nearly 


straight, apex round-pointed, termen oblique, straight, slightly 


indented at + and again in middle; fuscous mixed with whitish; 
a whitish line from + costa to mid-dorsum, angulated outwards 
beneath costa and inwards on fold, edged posteriorly with fuscous 
and followed by a whitish spot on fold; a conspicuous snow- 
white circular spot in mid-disc, preceded by a fuscous suffusion ; 
a whitish line from 2 costa, first curved outwards, then parallel 
to termen to 2 dorsum, edged on both sides with fuscous, and 
preceded by a whitish spot on costa; a white subapical costal 
spot; an interrupted blackish terminal line nos reaching costa ; 
cilia with a leaden-fuscous basal line, succeeded by a fine whitish 
line, apices brownish-fuscous. Hindwings with termen rounded, 
slightly sigmoid beneath apex and again towards tornus; vein 3 
present; grey; cilia whitish with a grey basal line. 

Type in Coli. Turner. 

Q., Stradbroke Island, in October, one specimen. 


Gen. 16. ANncyLoLomta. 

Ancylolomia, Hb., Verz. p. 868. Hmps., P.Z.S. 1895, 

p. 966. 
ANCYLOLOMIA CHRYSOGRAPHELLA. 

chrysographella, Koll., Hig. Kasch. iv., p. 494. 

Ancylolomia westwoodi, Zel., Mon. Cramb. p. 11. Meyr., 
P.L.5.N.S.W. 1879, p. 208. 

N.Q., Thursday Island, Townsville. Said also to occur in 
Tasmania, but I think this may be an error. 

Also from China, Ceylon, India and Africa. 

Gen. 17s. “Tari: 

*Talis, Gn., Ind. Micr. p. 86 (1845). Hmps., P.Z.8. 1895, 
p- 967. 

Hednota, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1886, p. 270. 

Surattha, W1k., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxvii., 75. Hmps., P.Z.S. 
1895, p. 965. 

TALIS TERMIA. 
Thinasotia termia, Meyr., Tr. 1.8. 1885, p. 452. 
Q , Duaringa, Brisbane. 
TALIS PANTEUCHA. 
Thinasotia panteucha, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1885, p. 453. 
V. Birchip, Murtoa, Nhill; S.A., Mount Lofty. 


* It should hardly be necessary to point out that unlike Crambus 


Talis (tats, a maiden] is a feminine substantive. 


172 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


+ TALIS BRUNNEA. 
Surattha brunnea, Hmps. 
N.W.A., Roeburne. 
++ TALIS BATHROTRICHA. 

Surattha bathrotricha, Low., P..5.N.5.W. 1901, p. 661. 
N.S.W., Broken Hill. 

{++ TALIS DIACENTRA. 
Talis diacentra, Meyr., Tr. K.S. 1897, p. 379. 
V., Gunbower. 

TALIS HOPLITELLA. 
Crambus hoplitellus, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1878, p. 188. 
N.S.W., Sydney. 


+ TALIS RECURVELLA. 

Crambus recurvellus, W1lk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxvii, p. 171. 

Crambus bivittellus, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1878, p. 186, nec. 
Don. 

W.A., Albany. 

TALIS BIVITTELLA. 

bivittellus, Don., Ins., N.H. 

Crambus trivittatus, Zel., Mon. Cramb., p. 34. Meyr., 
P.L.S8.N.S.W. 1888, p. 185. 

Q., Rockhampton, Nambour, Brisbane, Stradbroke Island, 
Warwick; N.S.W., Sydney, Katoomba; V., Melbourne, Gis- 
borne; T., Launceston ; §.A., Adelaide. 


TALIS AURANTIACA. 
Crambus aurantiacus, Meyr., P.L.S.N.5.W. 1878, p. 184. 
N.Q., Cardwell, Townsville ; N.S.W., Newcastle. 


TALIS MILVELLA. 
Crambus milvellus, Meyr., P.U.S.N.5.W. 1878, p. 181. 
N.S.W., Sydney. 
TALIS PLENIFERELLA. 
Crambus pleniferellus, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxvii, 178. 
Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1878, p. 187. 
Crambus aurosus, F. and R., Reise Noy. Pl. 187, f. 31. 
Q., Toowoomba, Stanthorpe ; N.S.W., Tenterfield, Sydney ; 
V., Melbourne, Gisborne; T., Deloraine. 
TALIS IMPLETELLA. 
Crambus impletellus, W1k., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxvil., p. 175. 
Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W 1879, p. 210. 
T., Hobart. 


TALIS LONGIPALPELLA. 
Eromene longipalpella, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1878, p. 196. 
Q., Toowoomba, Stanthorpe; V., Melbourne, Brentwood. 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 173 


TALIS BIFRACTELLA. 
Crambus bifractellus, W1k., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxvii., p. 174. 
Eromene bifractella, Meyr., P.U.8.N.8.W. 1878, p. 197. 
Thimasotia argyroéles, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1882, p. 1638. 
Q., Duaringa, Peak Downs, Brisbane, Warwick ; N.S.W..,. 
Sydney ; S.A., —. Also from New Guinea. 


TALIS PERLATALIS. 
Crambus perlatalis, Wik., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxvii., p. 174. 
Moye ..5.N.8.W. 1879, p. 213. 
T., Launceston, Hobart. 

TALIS RELATALIS. 


Crambus relatalis, Wlk., Brit, Mus. Cat. xxvii., p. 172. 
Meyr., P.L.5.N.S.W. 1878, p. 191. 

Crambus argyroneurus, Zel. Mon. Cramb., p. 47. 

Q., Warwick, Stanthorpe; N.S.W., Clarence River, Syd- 
ney, Katoomba, Mittagong; V., Melbourne, Gisborne; T., Ho- 
bart; S.A., Adelaide. 

TALIS PANSELENELLA. 
Thinasotia panselenella, Meyr., P.U.S.N.S.W. 1882, p. 165. 
N.S.W., Katoomba; V., Gisborne ; T., Hobart. 


TALIS OPULENTELLA. 


Crambus opulentellus, Zel., Mon. Cramb., p. 46. Meyr., 
P.L.S.N.S.W. 1878, p. 192. 
N.S.W., Sydney, Moruya; V., Narracan, Gisborne; T.,. 
Hobart. 
TALIS GRAMELLA. 
Grambus grammellus, Zel., Mon. Cramb., p. 46. 
Crambus enneagrammos, Meyr., P.L.8.N.S.W. 1878, p. 194. 
N.8.W., Sydney, Katoomba; V., Melbourne, Gisborne; 
T., Hobart. 
++ TALIS INVALIDELLA. 
_ Crambus invalidellus, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1878, p. 193. 
is 
TALIS ACONTOPHORA. 
Thinasotia acontophora, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1882, p. 167. 
Q., Warwick ; N.S.W., Mittagong, Mornya; V., Gisborne, 
Murtoa; T., Hobart: S.A., Adelaide. 


TALIS PEDIONOMA. 


Thinasotia pediononoma, Meyr., Tr. K-S. 1885, p. 458. 
N.S.W., Bathurst ; V., Melbourne, Gisborne, Birchip; T..,. 
Launceston, Hobart; 5.A., Mount Lofty. 


174 


AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALFDAE 


++ TALIS MEGALARCHA. 
Thinasotia megalarcha, Meyr., Tr. 8. 1885, p. 454. 
N.S.W., Mt. Kosciusko. 
TALIS TOXOTIS. 
Hednota tovotis, Meyr., Tr. K.S. 1887, p. 249. 
V., Melbourne. 


|} TALIS GELASTIS. 
Hednota gelastis, Meyr., Tr. 5.5. 1887, p. 250. 
T., Campbelltown. 

+} TALIS ASTERIAS. 
Hednota asterias, Meyr., Tr. 1.8. i887, p. 250. 
W.A., Albany. 


++ TALIS XYLOPHEA. 
Hednota wylophaca, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W, 1886, p. 1038. 
§.A., Mt. Lofty. 


TALIS ENCHIAS. 
Talis enchias, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1897, p. 880. 
V., Melbourne, Gisborne ; T. Hobart. 
+ TALIS SUBFUMALIS. 
Talis subfumalis, Hmps., P.Z.S., 1895, p. 968. 
N.A., Port Darwin. 
TALIS CRYPSICHROA. 
Hednota crypsichroa, Low., Tr. R.S.5.A. 1898, p. 166. 
V., Gisborne, Birchip; 8.A., Adelaide, Mount Lofty. 
TALIS CYCLOSEMA. 
Talis cyclosema, Low., Tr. R.5.5.A. 1896, p. 158. 
Antennae of f with fine pectinations of moderate 


length (2). 


V., Trafalgar; S.A., Hoyleton. 
++ TALIS MACROGONA. 
Talis macrogona, Low., P.L.5.N.5.W. 1901, p. 661. 


§.A., Exeter. 
tt TALIS MACROURA. 


Talis macroura, Low., Tr, R.8.8.A. 1902, p. 288. 
S.A., Penola. 


TALIS STENIPTERALIS. 
Talis stenipteralis, Low., Tr. B.5.5.A. 1908, p. 51. 
V., Birchip ; N.S.W., Broken Hill. 

++ TALIS EREMENOPA. 
Talis eremenopa, Low., Tr. B.5.5.A. 1908, p. 51. 
V., Stawell. 


++ TALIS MESOCHRA. 
Talis mesochra, Low., Report Horn Expedition 1896. 
Central Australia. 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 175 


TALIS ISODETA, 2. Sp. 

Talis isodeta, Meyr., M.S. 

isoderos, with equal lines. 

3 11 mm. Head and thorax grey. Palpi long (6); grey. 
Antennae grey; in ~ shortly ciliated (4). Abdomen (broken). 
Legs pale grey. Forewings triangular, costa gently arched, apex 
rounded, termen rounded, oblique; grey mixed with whitish ; 
an outwardly curved whitish line from 4 costa to 4 dorsum, its 
outer edge marked by a suffused grey line; a minute grey discal 
dot above middle; a whitish line from 2 costa to 2 dorsum, 
slightly crenulate and outwardly curved in disc, its inner edge 
marked by a suffused grey line, its outer by a very fine grey 
line ; cilia grey with a darker basal line, apices whitish. Hind- 
wings with termen rounded; veins 4 and 6 stalked; grey ; cilia 
whitish with a grey line near bases. 

A small and inconspicuous species with comparatively broad 
forewings. 

Type in Coll. Lyell. 

V., Gisborne, in February ; one specimen. 

TALIS XIPHOSEMA 2. sp. 

Evhoonpos, bearing a sword-like mark. 

gf. 22-24 mm. Head with frons rounded and somewhat 
protuberant; brownish-ochreous. Palpi long (5), brownish- 
ochreous. Antennae pale-grey; in g slightly dentate, shortly 
ciliated (4). Thorax pale brownish-ochreous. Abdomen pale- 
ochreous, Legs fuscous; posterior tibiae and tarsi pale- 
ochreous, the latter fuscous-tinged towards apices. Forewings 
elongate-triangular, costa scarcely arched, apex round-pointed, 
termen straight, oblique ; pale brownish-ochreous; a pale costal 
streak from + to near apex, attenuated at extremities; a well- 
marked white median streak from base to end of cell, with a 
fuscous spot beneath distal extremity, its upper edge marked by 
dark-fuscous irroration, which is continued as a fine streak to 
termen ; a fine white line edged with dark-fuscous irroration 
from median streak along fold towards tornus; four fine lines - 
from median streak along veins, with a few dark-fuscous scales 
between; a well marked white terminal streak from apex to 
tornus ; which leaves a fine terminal line of ground-colour, inter- 
rupted by 4 or 5 fine blackish dots on veins; cilia whitish, 
apices and a faint antemedian line pale-fuscous. Hindwings 
with termen rounded; veins 4 and 65 stalked; pale-ochreous ; 
cilia pale-ochreous. 

Type in Coll. Lyell. 


176 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


V., Mount Macedon, near Gisborne, in April; two speci- 
mens received from Mr. G. Lyell. 


TALIS EUCRASPEDA 72. S)). 


evkpac7edos, with handsome border. 

3 2? 18-22 mm. Head with short conical frontal process ;. 
whitish. Palpi long (6); fuscous, on upper surface whitish. 
Antennae pale-grey ; in g¢ shortly pectinated (1}. Thorax pale- 
fuscous. Abdomen pale-fuscous, basal segment, apices of seg- 
ments, and tuft whitish. Legs whitish; anterior pair fuscous: 
anteriorly. Forewings elongate-triangular, costa gently arched, 
in @ almost straight, apex acute, termen oblique, indented in 
middle ; pale-fuscous; a broad white costal streak from base 
nearly to apex, attenuated at extremities, costal edge sometimes. 
fuscous-tinged ; beneath this a broad pale-fuscous streak from 
base to apex containing some darker fuscous scales on each 
margin ; a suffused white median streak from about 4, dividing: 
posteriorly into 3 or 4 branches divided by fuscous irroration ; 
dorsal area very pale-fuscous inclining to whitish with darker- 
fuscous irroration; a well-defined white terminal streak from 
apex to tornus, its lower half crossed by 4 or 5 narrow black 
bars parallel to veins; terminal edge narrowly pale-fuscous ;. 
cilia white with a fuscous line before middle, bases showing- 
metallic reflections. Hindwings with termen rounded; veins 4 


and 5 stalked ; whitish ; cilia whitish. 
Allied to Talis enchias, Meyr., from which it may be dis- 


tinguished by the indented termen, well-defined terminal streak 
and line, and metallic cilia. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

Q., Warwick, in March; four specimens. 

TALIS ORTHOTYPA, 2. Sp. 

épHoru7os, With straight markings. 

g 29 mm. Head pale ochreous-brown; frons with an 
obtuse conical protuberance. Palpi (broken). Antennae pale- 
grey; in ¢ dentate, shortly ciliated ($). Thorax pale ochreous- 
brown. Abdomen ochreous-whitish. Legs grey ; posterior pair 
ochreous-whitish. Forewings elongate, somewhat dilated, costa 
gently arched, apex round-pointed, termen slightly sinuate, 
moderately oblique; pale ochreous-brown ; a very narrow white. 
costal streak; basal fifth of costal edge fuscous; a sub-costal 
white streak from } gralually broadening to costa immediately 
before apex ; a white median streak from base to midtermen, 
broad throughout, partly margined with fuscous on both sides, 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. Ng 


giving off a short tooth on lower surface shortly before termen ; 
minute dark-fuscous terminal dots on veins; cilia white with a 
very faint fuscous line before middle. Hindwings with termen 
rounded, slightly sigmoid beneath apex ; veins 4 and 6 stalked ; 
grey-whitish ; cilia whitish. 

Allied to 7. opulentella, Zel., from which it differs in the 
complete absence of streaks on fold and towards termen. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

N.S.W., Katoomba district, in February ; one specimen in 
good condition except palpi. 

TALIS HAPLOTYPA, 2. 8). 


amXotumos, Simply marked. 

g 25-29 NLM. Head and thorax ochreous-grey.  Palpi 
moderately long (5) ; grey, bases white. Antennae dark-fuscous; 
in g slightly serrate, shortly ciliated (3). Abdomen whitish, 
base suffused with grey; a dark-fuscous transverse bar on 
dorsum of each segment; tuft whitish. Legs grey; posterior 
femora and tibiae whitish. Forewings elongate, costa very 
slightly arched, apex acute, termen slightly sinuate, very oblique; 
ochreous-grey; a narrow whitish costal streak from near base 
to near apex ; beneath this is a sharply defined ochreous-grey 
streak from base to apex; a median whitish streak from base 
broadening slightly to termen, its lower edge ill-defined; cilia 
whitish ; slightly greyish-tinged above tornus. Hindwings with 
termen rounded ; vein 5 absent; whitish-grey, darker towards 
termen ; cilia whitish, with a grey basal line obsolete towards 
apex. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

N.S.W., Ben Lomond (4500 ft.), in January; four 
specimens. 

Sus Fam. CHRYSAUGINAE. 


A group of moderate size mostly confined to South America, 
but with a few Indo-Malayan and Australian species. It is 
distinguished from the Pyralinae by the absence of maxillary 
palpi. 


A. Palpi ascending sat Si sonnei, MO RIMGLa. 

aA. Palpi porrect. 
B. Forewings with vein 10 absent -.. 2 Drymiarcha, 
BB. b'orewings with vein 10 present ws. oO Anemosa. 


(ten. I CurictTa. 
Curicta, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat, xxxiv, p. 1129. Hmps,, 
P.Z.S. 1897, p. 682. 
M 


178 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


CURICTA OPPOSITALIS. 
Curicta oppositalis, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxxiv, p. 1130. 
N.Q., Cairns; one specimen taken by Mr. C. J. Wild 
(Queensland Museum). 
Also from New Guinea. 
Gen. 2 DryMmiaRcHA. 
Drymiarcha, Meyr., Tr. K.S. 1885, p. 441. Hmps., P.Z.5. 
1897, p. 645. 


DRYMIARCHA EXANTHES. 

Drymiarcha exanthes, Meyr., Tr. 11.8. 1885, p. 441. 

N.S.W., Sydney ; V., Gisborne, in September (Lyell). 

Gen. 3 ANEMOSA. 

Anemosa, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xix, p. 849.  Meyr., 

Tr. E.S, 1887, p. 198. Hmps., P.Z.S. 1897, p. 682. 
ANEMOSA ISADALIS. 

Anemosa isada/( as jalis, W1k., Brit. Mus. Cat. xix, p. 849. 
Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1887, p. 194. 

N.Q., Townsville; Q., Brisbane; N.S.W., Newcastle, 
Sydney. 

Sus Fam. PYRALINAE. 

A sub-family of moderate size which is proportionately 
well represented in Australia. I have included here the Kpipas- 
chianae, Pyfalinae, and Endotrichinae of Sir Geo. Hampson. 
The distinctions between these groups, though convenient for 
purposes of tabulation, are, I think, of not more than generic 
value. In the difficult Kpipaschia group I have departed from 
Hampson’s classification. His tabulation contains characters 
which, as pointed out by Mr. Meyrick (Tr. K.S. 1887, p. 187), 
vary within the limits of the same species, and the distinctions 
given by him between the genera Macalla, Stericta, and Urthaga, 
are not easy to apply in practice. Here, as in some other groups, 
a classification founded on the sexual characters will, I think, 
prove more natural and more convenient. 

a. Forewings without raised scales. 
s. Hindwings with vein 7 anastomosing 
with 8 (/ndotrichinae, Hampson) 
c. Palpi ascending. 
p. Forewings with 11  anastomosing 
with 12)" '\..: eae ... 1. Perstcopieme 
pp. Forewings with 11 free. 
gr. Forewings with 4 and 5 stalked or 
closely approximated for some 
distance towards base. 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 


r. Palpi stout, second joint thickened 
with scales anteriorly. 

FF. Palpi slender, second joint not 
thickened. 

G. Palpi exceeding vertex, second 
joint with tuft of hair on inner 
side of apex ‘ 

ce. Palpi not reaching veces wrod 
joint without apical tuft 

EE. Forewings with 4 and 5 separate 
and diverging from base. 
F. Palpi short, not nearly reaching 
vertex, second joint rough-scaled 
FF. Palpi reaching vertex, second joint 
smooth-scaled 
cc. Palpi porrect. 
p. Palpi with second joint bearing an 
apical tuft . a 
pp. Palpi with second joint nen tufted. 
E. Maxillary palpi with long apical tuft. 
F. Palpi down-curved at extremity and 
hollow to receive the brush-like 
maxillary palpi 
FF. Palpi not down-curved nor bntlow 
EE. Maxillary palpi strongly dilated with 
scales. 
Fr. Forewings with basal half of cell 
constricted 


rr. Forewings with basal half of cell 
not constricted 


EEE. Maxillary palpi filiform or but 
slightly dilated at apex. 


F. Palpi with 2nd joint bearing long 
hairs beneath ; 
FF. Palpi not hairy. 
c. Forewings with 10 anastomosing 
with 9 
ae. Forewings with 10 free 
BB, Hindwings with vein 7 not anatomosing 
with 8 (Pyralinae Hampson). 
c. Palpi ascending. 


2. 


set, 


=¥10: 


« Los 


wietes oles 
aed 


179 


Endotricha. 


Gauna. 


Scenedra. 


Seenidiopis. 


Curena. 


Diplopseustis. 


Trieropis 
Trichophysetis 


Syntonarcha. 


Myrmidonistis 


Oenogenes. 


Centropseustis. 


Cotachena. 


180 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


p. Forewings with 4 and 5 stalked or 
closely approximated for some 
distance towards base. 
gE. Palpi with terminal joint less than 
4 second. 
r. Tongue absent Ae ... 15. Aglossa. 
FF. Tongue present. 
c. Palpi with terminal joint ascend- 
ing in a line with second. 
u. Forewings with 9 from 8 before 7 16. Hypsopygia. 
nH. Forewings with 7 from 8 
before 9 —... : . 17..._Pyraite: 
cc. Palpi with terminal saint bent for 
wards at an angle with second... 18. //erculia. 
EE. Palpi with terminal joint nearly as 


long as second bie oo. 190° Vegernee 
pp. Forewings with 4 and 5 separate and 
diverging from base ... .. 21. Cardamyla. 
cc. Palpi porrect ce ... 22. Boshra: 


aa. Forewings with raised seatea (Epipas- 
chianae, Hampson). 
p. Palpi ascending. 
c. Hindwings with 7 anastomosing with 8 
for some distance. 
p. 3g with long antennal process reach- 
ing beyond thorax ... ... 23. Titanoceros. 
pp. ¢g with moderate antennal process 
not reaching beyond mid-thorax 24. Nycterevtica. 
ppp. ¢ without antennal process ... 25. Arnatula. 
cc. Hindwings with 7 free or rarely 
anastomosing only very shortly 
with 8. 
p. Forewings with 4 and 5 stalked ... 26 Spectratrota. 
pp. Forewings with 4 and 5 separate. 
E. g antennae with basal process. 
F. g maxillary palpi brush-like, and 
received into dilated labial palpi 28. Macalla. 


FF. gf maxillary palpi filiform, labial 
palpi alike in both sexes ... 29. Hpipaschia. 


EE. { antennae without basal process. 


Fr. g¢ maxillary palpi brush-like, and 
received into dilated labial palpi 27. Heterodela. 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 181 


FF. ¢ maxillary palpi filiform, labial 
palpi alike in both sexes ... 80. Orthaga. 
BB. Palpi porrect oe ... Bl. Doddiana. 
I have not been able to examine the characters of Hypsidia, 


Roths. 
Gen. 1. PerrsicoprERa. 


Persicoptera, Meyr., Tr. H.S. 1884, p. 283. Hmps., 
Tr. E.S. 1896, p. 487. 
PERSICOPTERA PULCHRINALIS. 
Endotricha pulchrinalis, Gn., Lep. viii, p. 220, PI. iii., f. 7. 
Scopula gavisalis, Wik., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxxiv., p. 1475. 
N.S.W., Sydney, Bathurst; V., Bendigo; T., ————-; 
8.A., Mount Lofty; W.A., Perth. 
Gen. 2. ENpoTrRIcHa. 
Endotricha, Zel., Isis. 1847, p. 598. Hmps., Tr. E.S. 
1896, p. 481. | 
ENDOTRICHA DISPERGENS. 
Endotricha dispergens, Luc., P.L.S.N.5.W. 1891, p. 306. 
Q., Brisbane. 
}ENDOTRICHA LOBIBASALIS. 
Endotricha lobibasalis, Hmps. 
N.Q., Cooktown. 
ENDOTRICHA MESENTERIALIS. 
Doththa mesenterialis, Wik., Brit. Mus. Cat. xvii. p. 285. 
Endotricha obscura, Butl., Tr. E.8. 1886, p. 427. 
Endotricha mesenterialis, Hmps., Moths Ind. iv., p. 138. 
N.Q., Townsville, Mackay; Q. Rockhampton, Brisbane; 
Also from Java, Borneo, Formosa, Ceylon and India. 


ENDOTRICHA PYROSALIS. 

Endotricha pyrosalis, Gn., Lep. viii, p. 219. 

Endotricha ignealis, Gn., Lep. viii, p. 220. 

Messatis sabirusalis, Wik., Brit. Mus. Cat. xix., p. 918. 

Pacoria albifimbiralis, Wik., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxxiv., p. 1255. 

Tricomia auroralis, Wik., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxxiv., p. 1259. 

Rhodaria robina, Butl., A.M.N.H. (5) x., p. 26. 

Q., Duaringa, Brisbane, Toowoomba, Stanthorpe ; N.S.W., 
Newcastle, Gosford, Sydney; V., Melbourne; T., Launceston, 
Hobart; W.A., Albany, Perth, Northampton. 

ENDOTRICHA DOCILIS. 

Pyralis docilisalis, W1k., Brit. Mus. Cat. xix., p. 913. 

Endotricha aethopa, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1884, p. 79. 

Q., Brisbane, Killarney ; N.S.W., Sydney. 


182 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


+ ENDOTRICHA STILBEALIS. 
Pyralis stilbealis, Wik., Brit. Mus. Cat. xix., p. 913. 
Endotricha heliopa, Meyr., Tr. E.5. 1884, p. 78. 
I am unable, owing to lack of material, to be certain as to 
the distinctness of this species. 
N.S.W., Sydney. 


ENDOTRICHA COMPSOPA. 
Endotricha compsopa, Meyr., Tr. E.8, 1887, p. 195. 
Q., Duaringa, Brisbane, Toowoomba. 
ENDOTRICHA PUNCTICOSTALIS. 
Rhisina puneticostalis, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxxiv., p. 1824. 
Endotricha ustalis, Snel., Tijd. v. Ent. 1880, p. 201, and 
LS68.0P lavie ater. 
Endotricha puncticostalis,, Meyr., Tr. E.5. 1884, p. 79. 
N.Q., Geraldton, Townsville; Q., Duaringa, Peak Downs, 
Bundaberg, Brisbane, Stradbroke I., Rosewood, Dalby; N.W.A., 
Roeburne. Also from Java and Celebes. 
++ ENDOTRICHA CROBULUS. 
Endotricha crobulus, Luc. P.L.5.N.S.W. 1891, p. 305. 
Q., Rockhampton, Peak Downs. 
++ ENDOTRICHA AGLAOPA. 
Endotrichu aglaopa, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1887, p. 196. 


Victoria. 
ENDOTRICHA DESMOTONA. 


Endotricha desmotona, Low., Tr. R.S.8.A. 1908, p. 60. 

N.Q., Townsville, in April; two specimens received from 
Mr. F. P. Dodd. With regard to Mr. Lower’s locality compare 
notes under Homoeosoma melanosticta and Tvrissonca proleuca. 

ENDOTRICHA PYROCAUSTALIS. 

Endotricha pyrocaustalis, Low., Tr. R.S.5.A. 19038, p. 60. 

g antennal ciliations long (4). 

I have seen the type. The forewings are very like £. 
psammitis, but the f antennal ciliations are much longer, and 
the hindwings have a well-defined median band obsolete towards 
costa only. 

Q., Brisbane, in October. 

ENDOTRICHA CHIONOCOSMA. 

xtovoxocpos, With snowy ornament. 

? 28 mm. Head, palpi, thorax, and abdomen dull 
purplish somewhat ochreous-tinged. Antennae ~ ochreous- 
whitish. Legs whitish-ochreous mixed with dark fuscous and 
reddish-purple. Forewings elongate-triangular, costa straight, 
slightly arched before apex, apex round-pointed ; termen bowed, 


BY A, JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 183 


oblique finely waved; reddish-purple, towards dorsum inclining 
to fuscous; distal half of disc finely irrorated with dark- 
fuscous; costal edge dark-fuscous interrupted by numerous 
small whitish spots each of which has a minute central dark- 
fuscous dot ; a faint whitish line from + costa slightly outwards, 
then bent inwards beneath costa to end in + dorsum; an 
inconspicuous subcostal fuscous dot in middle; an elongate 
whitish mark on costa near apex, bordered by fuscous, and 
giving rise to a fine double fuscous line to tornus; a fine 
interrupted dark-fuscous terminal line; cilia bases reddish- 
purple, apices whitish, with a dark-fuscous apical hook, and 
interrupted median line. Hindwings with termen rounded, 
finely waved; colour, irroration, and cilia as forewings; a 
broad fascia before middle, finely edged with dark-fuscous ; its 
centre clear white, both extremities irrorated with reddish- 
purple and ferrugineous. Underside similar, but forewings 
with discal dot more distinct and with a large dark-fuscous 
terminal blotch, bounded by a fine whitish dentate line, which 
is much bent inwards in disc; hindwings with much dark- 
fuscous irroration on each side of fascia, and a fine dentate 
whitish line beyond fascia. 
Type in Coll. Turner. 
N.Q., Cairns, in June, one specimen. 


ENDOTRICHA PSAMMITIS 2. 8p). 

Wopputis, Sandy. 

g 22 mm. Head, thorax and palpi dull-ochreous. 
Antennae dull-ochreous; in g moderately ciliated (1). 
Abdomen with lateral and dorsal tufts on last three segments of 
g ; dull-ochreous with a few reddish-purple scales, middle 
segments suffused with fuscous. Legs dull-ochreous sparsely 
irrorated with fuscous and reddish-purple. Forewings elongate 
triangular, costa slightly concave in middle, rather strongly 
arched towards apex, apex round-pointed, termen bowed, oblique; 
dull-ochreous sparsely irrorated with reddish-purple and fuscous ; 
a costal series of dull-ochreous spots, interrupted and edged by 
dark fuscous ; a pale line from 4 costa to 4 dorsum bounding a 
darker basal area; a fuscous subcostal spot in middle; an 
indistinct pale line from 2 costa to tornus; a fine interrupted 
fuscous terminal line ; cilia bases reddish-purple, apices whitish, 
with a fuscous apical dot at apex. Hindwings with termen 
rounded ; colour and irroration as forewings; four suffused 
reddish-purple spots on inner margin, and two short curved 


184 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


lines of similar colour in mid-disc; cilia with a dark-fuscous 
median line towards tornus. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

N.Q., Townsville, in September; two specimens received 
from Mr. F. P. Dodd. 


ENDOTRICHA HEMICAUSTA, 2. Sp. 


jjpuxavortos, half-burnt, scorched. 

¢ 18 mm. Head, palpi and thorax whitish-ochreous 
mixed with dark-fuscous and dull-purplish. Antennae grey- 
whitish; in # moderately ciliated (1). Abdomen dark-fuscous, 
base and apex mostly dull-ochreous. Legs dark-fuscous mixed 
with whitish-ochreous. Forewings triangular, costa straight 
except just before apex, apex round-pointed, termen bowed, 
oblique ; whitish-ochreous mixed with dark-fuscous and dull- 
purplish ; costal edge dark-fuscous interrupted by pale dots; a 
dark triangular basal patch bounded by an indistinct pale some- 
what dentate line from 4 costa to 4, dorsum ; a pale median area ; 
posterior area much suffused with dark-fuscous ; an interrupted 
dark-fuscous terminal line ; cilia (imperfect but apparently as in 
hindwings). Hindwings with termen rounded; pale-ochreous ; 
narrowly suffused near termen with reddish-purple; an inter- 
rupted dark-fuscous terminal line ; cilia whitish, bases purplish- 
tinged, with a broad median fuscous line. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

N.Q., Townsville, in April; one specimen received from 
Mr. F. P. Dodd. 

Gen. 3. ScENEDRA. 

Scenedra, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1884, p. 75. Hmps., Tr. H.S. 

1896, p. 486. 
SCENEDRA DECORATALIS. 

Pyralis decoratalis, Wik., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxxiv., p. 1242. 

Pyralis (?) contentalis, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxxiv., p. 
1247. 

Scenedra decoratalis, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1884, p. 76. 

Q., Duaringa, Brisbane; N.S.W., Newcastle, Sydney; V., 
Melbourne. 

Gen. 4. ScENIDIOPIS, nov. 


oxynvidiov, & little tent; from its resting with tilted wings. 

Frons smooth. Palpi upturned, short, not nearly reaching 
vertex. Antennae of 9 ciliated. Patagia in ¢ not elongated. 
Middle tibiae in g densely scaled. Forewings with vein 1 not 
furcate at base, 4 and 5 separate and diverging from base; 7, 


BY A, FEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 185 


8, 9 stalked; 10,11 free. Hindwings with 4 and 5 separate, 
not approximated, 7 anastomosing shortly with 8. 
Closely allied to Scenedra, Meyr. 


SCENIDIOPIS CHIONOZYGA. 


Persicoptera chionozyga, Low., Tr. B.S.5.A. 1908, p. 60. 

S 16 mm. Head brown. Palpi dark fuscous, apical 
joint brown. Antennae ochreous-whitish; in ¢ with long 
ciliations (3). Thorax and abdomen whitish-ochreous mixed 
with fuscous. Legs dark fuscous, irrorated and tarsi annulated 
with whitish-ochreous. Forewings triangular, costa straight, 
slightly arched near apex, apex rounded, termen bowed, oblique ; 
fuscous; two fine, white, slightly outwardly curved lines, first 
from 4 costa to 4 dorsum, second from 3 costa to 2 dorsum; an 
obscure ferrugineous suffusion near base, and two others before 


apex and tornus; terminal area paler; an interrupted dark- 
fuscous terminal line; cilia fuscous with a grey-whitish median 


line. Hindwings with termen rounded; dark-grey; a fine 
whitish line beyond middle ; terminal line and cilia as forewings. 

N.Q., Geraldton, in November ; one specimen. Mackay ? 
(Lower). 

Gen. 5. Gauna. 

Gauna, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxxiv., p. 1252. Hmps., 
Tr. E.8. 1896, p. 486. 

Oedematophaga, Meyr., Tr. H.S. 1884, p. 73. 


GAUNA AEGALIS. 
Pyralis aegusalis, W1k., Brit. Mus. Cat. xix, p. 912. 
Gauna subferralis, Wik., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxxiv., p. 1253. 
Oedematophaga aegalis, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1884, p. 74. 
Q., Brisbane ; V., Melbourne. 


Gen. 6. CuRENA. 

Curena, Wik., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxxiv., p. 12538. Hmps., 
Tr. E.S. 1896, p. 516. 

In two specimens I have examined vein 7 of hindwings 
anastomoses shortly with 8. Sir Geo. Hampson describes them 
as separate. Possibly this point may be variable, but if so 
Hampson’s subfamilies ndotrichinae and Pyralinae can hardly 
be kept separate. 

CURENA EXTERNALIS. 

Curena externalis, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxxiv., p. 1253. 

Scenedra ? externalis, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1884, p. 77. 

Oedematophora cacaalis, Luc., P.L.S.N.8.W. 1891, p. 806. 

Q., Brisbane ; N.S.W., Sydney. 


186 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


Gen. 7. DreLuopsEustis. 


Diplopseustis, Meyr., Tr. B.S. 1884, p. 284; Hmps., Tr. 
E.S. 1896, p. 489. 


DIPLOPSEUSTIS PERIERESALIS. 
Ambia ? perieresalis, W1k., Brit. Mus. Cat. xix., p. 958. 
Cymoriza minima, Butl., P.Z.S8. 1880, p. 684. 
Diplopseustis minima, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1884, p. 285. 
Q., Bundaberg, Brisbane ; N.5.W., Sydney; V., Melbourne: 
Also from New Zealand. 


++ DIPLOPSEUSTIS PROPHETICA. 

Diplopseustis prophetica, Meyr., Tr. E.5. 1887, p. 198. 
V., Warragul. 

Gen. 8. TRreRopIs. 
Trieropis, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1886, p. 218.- Hmps., Tr. E.S. 

1896, p. 490. 

+ TRIEROPIS NESIAS. 
Trieropts nesias, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1886, p. 218. 
N.Q., Cooktown (British Museum) ; also from Tonga. 


Gen. 9. TRICHOPHYSETIS. 
Trichophysetis, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1884, p. 287. Hmps., 
Tr, ES: 1896, p..491. 


TRICHOPHYSETIS CRETACEA. 
Hydrocampa cretacea, Butl., Ill. Het. iii., p. 75, Pl. 59, f. 8. 
Trichophysetis neophyla, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1884, p. 287. 
Trichophysetis crocoplaya, Low., Tr. R.S.S.A. 1908, p. 61. 
Trichophysetis fulvifusalis, Low., Tr. R.S.5.A. 1908, p. 61. 
Very variable in coloration, details, and intensity of 
marking. Mr. Lower’s types are extreme examples, and I 
reserve my final opinion as to their distinctness. 
N.Q., Cooktown, Townsville; Q., Brisbane, Rosewood, 
Mount Tambourine, Killarney; N.S.W., sydney; also from 
Norfolk Island, Japan, and Amur. 


Gen. 10. MyrMiponistis. 
Myrmidonistis, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1887, p. 196. Hmps., 
Tr. E.S. 1896, p. 494. 


+} MYRMIDONISTIS HOPLORA. 
Myrmidonistis hoplora, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1887, p. 197. 


Q. 
Gen. 11. SyYNTONARCHA. 
Syntonarcha, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1889, p. 1107. Hmps., 
Tr. E.S. 1896, p. 496. 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 187 


SYNTONARCHA IRIASTIS. 

3 Syntonarcha iriastis, Meyr., P.L.S.N.8.W. 1889, p. 1107. 

@ Syntonarcha vulnerata, Lue., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1898, p. 157. 

The two sexes are very different, but Mr. F. P. Dodd has 
proved their relationship by rearing both from the larvae. The 
9 is variable. 

The larvae were, I am informed, found on the flowers and 
young foliage of a small-leaved variety of Melaleuca. They cut 
holes in the papery bark to pupate in. 

N.A., Port Darwin; N.Q., Geraldton, Townsville; Q., 
Brisbane, Southport. 


Gen. 12. CENTROPSEUSTIS. 
Centropseustis, Meyr., P.L.5.N.S.W. 1889, p.1105. Hmps.s 
Tr. E.S. 1896, p. 496. 


+ CENTROPSEUSTIS ASTRAPORA. 
Centropseustis astrapora, Meyr., P.L.S8.N.S.W. 1889, p. 1106. 
N.S.W., Sydney. 


Gen. 13. OENOGENES. 
Oenogenes, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1884, p. 75; Hmps., Tr. B.S. 
1896, p. 497. 


OENOGENES FUGALIS. 

Botys ? fugalis,, F. and R., Reise Nov. Pl. 1384, f. 87. 

Ocenogenes fugalis, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1884, p. 75. 

V., Melbourne, Gisborne; T., Launceston, Deloraine, Ho- 
bart; S.A., Mt. Graham. 

Gen. 14. CorTacHENA. 

Cotachena, Moore, Lep. Ceyl. iii., p. 275; Hmps., Tr. E.S. 
1896, p. 497. 

A genus apparently related to the Pyraustinae. 

COTACHENA HISTRICALIS. 

Botys histricalis, W1k., Brit. Mus. Cat. xviii., p. 655 ; Cota- 
chena histricalis, Hmps., Ill. Het. ix. Pl. 172, f. 5, Moths Ind. 
iv., p. 142. 

N.Q., Townsville, in April; one specimen received from 
Mr. F. P. Dodd. Also from China, Ceylon, and India. 

COTACHENA ALUENSIS. 

Cotachena aluensis, Butl., A.M.N.H. 1887, p. 128. 

Q., Brisbane ; one specimen received from Mr. F. P. Dodd. 
Also from Solomon Islands. 

Gen. 15. AGuLossa. 

Aglossa, Latr., Gen. Ins., p. 145. Hmps., Tr. E.S. 1896, 

p. 505. 


188 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRILIDAE 


AGLOSSA PINGUINALIS. 

Phalaena pinguinalis, Linn., Faun, Suec., p. 351. 

Aglossa pinguinalis, Meyr., Brit. Lepid., p. 428. 

V., Melbourne; T. Hobart; also from India, Western Asia 
and Europe. An introduced species. 

AGLOSSA CUPREALIS. 

Aglossa cuprealis, Hb., Verz., p. 348. Meyr., Brit. Lepid., 
p. 428. 

Q., Brisbane; N.S.W., Newcastle, Sydney; also from 
Central Asia, Europe, and North America. An introduced 
species. 

Gen. 16. Hypsopyeta. 

Hypsopygia, Hb., Verz., p. 348. Hmps., Tr. E.S. 1896, 

p-. 507. 


HYPSOPYGIA MAURITIALIS. 
mauritialis, Bdv., Faun. Madag., p. 119, Pl. 
24 [OS at 
Pyralis ducalis, Wik., Brit. Mus. Cat. xvil., p. 1242. 
Asopia ducalis, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1887, p. 192. 
N.Q., Cooktown, Townsville, Mackay; Q., Brisbane; also 
from Java, Celebes, Sumatra, China, India, and Madagascar. 
Gen. 17... PSRALIS. 
Pyralis, Linn., Syst. Nat. xii., p. 881. Hmps., Tr. H.S. 
1896, p. 507. 
++ PYRALIS CAUSTICA. 
Asopia caustica, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1884, p. 282. 


Q., Dwaringa. 
PYRALIS FARINALIS. 


Pyralis farinalis, Linn., Meyr., Brit. Lap., p. 427. 

Q., Nambour, Brisbane, Toowoomba, Stanthorpe; N.S.W., 
Glen Innes, Sydney ; V., Melbourne, Gisborne ; §.A., Adelaide ; 
W.A., Albany, York. 

Also from New Zealand, Japan, Western Asia, Europe, 
North America, and South America. An introduced species 
probably now cosmopolitan. 

PYRALIS MANIHOTALIS. 

Pyralis manihotalis, Gn., Lep. vill, p. 121. 

Pyralis gerontesalis, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xix, p. 896. 

N.Q., Cooktown ; Q., Brisbane ; also from India and South 
America. 

Gen. 18. Hercutta. 

Herculia, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xix, p. 807. Hmps., 

Tr:/H.8. 1896; p: S47: 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 189 


Ocrasa, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxxiv, p. 1212. Meyr., 
Ty. B.S. 1884, p. 72. 
HERCULIA DECOLORALIS. 
Asopia decoloralis, Led., Wien. Ent. Mon. 1868, p. 348, 
Pi. -vi, f. 10. 
N.Q., Geraldton, Townsville; Q., Duaringa, Brisbane ; 
N.S.W., Sydney. 
HERCULIA ALBIDALIS. 
Ocrasa albidalis, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxxiv, p. 1212. 
Meyr., Tr. E. 8. 1884, p. 73. 
Spilodes (2?) rhodocryptalis, W1k., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxxiv, p. 
1474. 
Q., Peak Downs, Nambour, Brisbane; N.S.W., Sydney ; 
V., Birchip ; 5.A., Mé. Lofty. 
HERCULIA ACERASTA. 


dxepactos, unmixed; without markings on wings. 

3S 2, 26-32 mm. Head and palpi dull-pinkish mixed with 
ochreous. Antennae whitish-ochreous, ciliations in g 2. Tho- 
rax and abdomen whitish-grey tinged with ochreous. Legs dull- 
pinkish ; anterior femora of 3 without tuft. Forewings trian- 
gular, costa straight except close to base and apex, apex rounded, 
termen oblique, slightly rounded; whitish-grey tinged with 
ochreous, in ? with pinkish; costa narrowly ochreous; cilia 
dull-pinkish, bases ochreous-tinged, a median fuscous line, apices 
whitish. Hindwings with termen rounded, colour and cilia as 
forewings. 

Extremely similar to H. albidalis, but the forewings are 
entirely devoid of discal dot and transverse lines. The 3 is 
distinguishable with certainty by the absence of an anterior 
femoral tuft. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

Q., Brisbane, from November to January, four specimens; 
V., Gisborne, in March; one specimen received from Mr. G. 
Lyell. 

(ren. 19. Vrressa. 

Vitessa, Moore, Lep. E.I. Co., p. 299. Hmps., Tr. E.§8. 

1896, p. 502. 
| VirEssa GLAUCOPTERA. 

Vitessa glaucoptera, Hmps. 

N.Q. 

(ren. 20. Hypsinta. 

Hypsidia, Roths. 


190 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


+ HYPSIDIA ERYTHROPSALIS. 

Hypsidia erythropsalis, Roths. 

N.Q., Cooktown. 

Gen. 21. CarDAMyLa. 

Cardamyla, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xvii., p. 282. Hmps., 
Tr. E.5. 1896, p. 518. 

CARDAMYLA CARINENTALIS, 

Cardumyla carinentalis, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat, xvii., p. 282. 

N.Q., Townsville; Q., Duaringa, Brisbane, Dalby, Killar- 
ney; N.S.W., Newcastle, Sydney, Kiama. 

CARDAMYLA DIDYMALIS. 

Cardamyla didymalis, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xvii., p. 283, 

Balanotis ? didymalis, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1884, p. 69. 

Balanotis arctandalis, Luc., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1889, p. 1098. 

N.Q., Cape York; Q., Nambour, Brisbane, Killarney ; 
N.S.W., Newcastle. 

++ CARDAMYLA HERCOPHORA. 
Balanotis hercophora, Meyr., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1884, p. 281. 
N.A., Port Darwin. 
Gen. 22. Bostra. 

Bostra, Wilk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxvii., p. 128; Hmps., Tr. 
E.S. 1896, p. 583. 

BOSTRA DISTICHA. 2. S)). 

durtixos, with two lines. 

g. 29 mm. Head, thorax, palpi, and antennae, dull 
purplish-brown. Abdomen ochreous-whitish irrorated with 
fuscous ; apices of segments faintly pinkish-tinged. Legs purp- 
lish irrorated with dark-fuscous ; tarsi whitish-ochreous ; ante- 
rior tarsi dark-fuscous anteriorly. Forewings triangular, costa 
straight except near base and apex, apex rounded, termen 
oblique, rounded ; purplish-brown, finely and sparsely irrorated 
with fuscous; a fuscous discal dot above middle; two whitish 
transverse lines: first slightly dentate, from 4 costa to 2 dorsum ; 
second slightly waved from ? costa to + dorsum ; cilia fuscous 
mixed with whitish-ochreous and pinkish. Hindwings with 
termen rounded; whitish -ochreous suffused with fuscous, 
towards termen pinkish-tinged ; cilia as forewings. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

N.Q., Townsville, in January ; one specimen received from 
Mr. F. P. Dodd; Q., Brisbane; one specimen in Coll. Illidge, 
and another in the Queensland Museum. 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 191 


Gen. 23.  TivTanocERos. 


Titanoceros, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1884, p. 62. 

A small but very natural Australian genus, which Sir Geo. 
Hampson merges with the South American genus Jocwra, W1k., 
in which the male antennal processes are short, the maxillary 
palpi brush-like, and the labial palpi dilated. In Titanoceros 
the maxillary palpi are filiform. 


TITANOCEROS CATAXANTHA, 


Titanoceros catawantha, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1884, p. 638. 
Q., Brisbane. N.S.W., Sydney. 


TITANOCEROS THERMOPTERA. 


Jocara thermoptera, Low., Tr. R.S.S.A. 1908, p. 59. 

Q., Brisbane, two specimens received from Mr. F. P. Dodd. 
According to Mr. Lower also from Broken Hill, N.S.W., but I 
have no doubt that this is an error. 


TITANOCEROS POLIOCHYTA, 2. Sp. 


mohoxuros, suffused with grey. 

f 2 18-21 mn. Head whitish. Palpi whitish irrorated 
with dark-fuscous. Antennae whitish; in g with very long 
basal process reaching beyond thorax, fuscous mixed with 
whitish ; ciliations 24. ‘thorax whitish. Abdomen whitish 
suffused with grey. Legs whitish mixed with fuscous. Fore- 
wings triangular, costa straight, arched towards apex, apex 
rounded, termen moderately oblique, slightly rounded; whitish 
partly suffused with grey; a subcostal ridge of long raised 
whitish and blackish scales ; a broad costal streak to 3, fuscous 
mixed with whitish and purple-reddish scales ; a fuscous dot on 
midcosta giving rise to a very faint undulating fuscous line to 
mid-termen ; a similar line from ? costa to 2 termen angled 
outwards in disc, and dentate beneath angulation; this is 
bounded posteriorly by a pale line; cilia whitish, bases barred 
with fuscous. Hindwings with termen rounded ; colour as fore- 
wings; a patch of long raised whitish and blackish scales in 
mid-disc, continued along veins towards termen ; cilia as fore- 
wings. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

N.Q., Townsville, in December; two specimens received 
from Mr. I. P. Dodd, who found the larvae feeding gregariously 
on the leaves of Melaleuca leucodendron, which they fastened 
together with silk. 


192 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


Gen. 24. NycrEREuTiIca, nov, 


VUKTEPEUTLKOS, dark, nocturnal. 

Frons flattened. Tongue well developed. Labial palpi 
ascending, slightly exceeding vertex. Antennae in g with 
densely scaled process from basal joint not reaching mid-thorax. 
Forewings with cell open, 2 from #, 3 from near 2, 4 and 5 
approximated at base, 7, 8 and 9 stalked, 7 arising before 9. 
Hindwings with 4 and 5 stalked, 7 anastomosing strongly 
with 8. 

Lype NV. asbolopis. 


+ NYCTEREUTICA ELASSOPA. 


Catamola elassota, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1884, p. 280. 
8.A., Quorn; N.W.A., Sherlock River (British Museum). 


NYCTEREUTICA CAPNOPIS. 


Catamola capnopis, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1885, p. 438. 

N.S.W., Mt. Kosciusko (4500 ft.), Ben Lomond (4500 ft.), 
in January. 

NYCTEREUTICA ASBOLOPIS, 7. Sp. 

ao BoXwrms, like soot. 

g. 18-15 mm. Head, thorax, palpi, and antennal 
processes black. Antennae grey annulated with black; in ¢ 
simple, moderately ciliated (2). Abdomen dark fuscous, apices 
of segments whitish. Legs dark fuscous irrorated with whitish. 
Forewings triangular, costa moderately arched, apex rounded, 
termen slightly rounded, oblique; in ¢ witha rounded glandular 
swelling on costa at 4; blackish; a few white scales above + 
dorsum indicating antemedian line; a postmedian erect white 
line from 2 dorsum, slightly indented inwards below middle, not 
reaching costa; a few scattered white scales in costal and ter- 
minal portions of disc; cilia dark fuscons. Hindwings with 
termen rounded; fuscous; cilia fuscous, 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

N.Q., Townsville, in January and May; three specimens 
received from Mr. F. P. Dodd. 


Gen. 25. ARNATULA. 
Arnatula, Staud., Iris. vi., p. 78 (1898). Hmps., Tr. E.8. 


1896, p. 454. 
+t ARNATULA TORNOTIS. 


Stericta ? tornotis, Meyr., Tr. B.S. 1887, p. 188. 
Q., Helidon. 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 1938 


ARNATULA TYMPANOPHORA, 2. sp. 

Tuptavopopos, bearing a tympanum or drum. 

g 22 TIL ML. Head and thorax whitish mixed with grey. 
Labial palpi fuscous finely irrorated with whitish ; second joint 
in g dilated and considerably exceeding vertex. Maxillary 
palpi not visible in type but probably brush-like and concealed 
in second joint of labial palpi. Antennae brown-whitish; in 
g without process from basal joint, simple, moderately ciliated 
(1). Abdomen whitish irrorated with dark-fuscous, towards 
base suffused with pale brownish. Legs whitish irrorated with 
dark-fuscous; tarsi dark-fuscous annulated with whitish. Fore- 
wings elongate-triangular, costa gently arched, apex rounded, 
termen rounded, oblique; in ¢ with a small glandular 
thickening preceded by a tuft of scales on mid-costa, beneath 
this in disc is a depressed, oblong, thinly scaled, translucent 
area, which on under surface is preceded by a tuft of dark- 
grey scales; whitish-grey with scattered dark-fuscous scales ; 
costal tuft and a spot beneath it in disc dark-fuscous; a very 
faint outwardly curved dark-fuscous postmedian line from # 
costa to 2 dorsum; cilia whitish mixed with fuscous. Hind- 
wings with termen rounded ; grey; towards base whitish ; cilia 
whitish, with a median fuscous line towards apex. 

Sir Geo. Hampson suggests that this may be the ¢ of the 
preceeding, but from the description this does not apDeE likely. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

Q., Eumundi, near Nambour, in November; one specimen. 


Gen. 26. SPpECTRATROTA. 
Spectratrota, Warr., A.M.N.H. (6) vii., p. 426 (1891). 
Hmps., Tr. E.8. 1896, p. 462. 


SPECTRATKOTA FIMBRIALIS. 

Spectratrota fimbrialis, Warr., A.M.N.H. (6) vii. p. 427 
(1891). 

N.Q., Townsville ; Q., Brisbane, Toowoomba, Dalby, War- 
wick ; T. Hobart. : 

Gen. 27. HETEROBELLA, nov. 

érepoBeXos, With different weapons ; in allusion to the palpi 
of the sexes. 

Tongue well-developed. Labial palpi ascending; in 9? 
reaching vertex ; in g¢ with second joint much elongated and 
dilated, concealing maxillary palpi. Maxillary palpiin 3 brush- 
like, immensely dilated by long hairs, but usually completely con- 


cealed. Antennae in ¢ ciliated; without basal process. Fore- 
N 


194 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


wings with veins 4 and 5 closely approximated towards base ; 
in § witha small grandular swelling on mid-costa, beneath which 
in disc is an oblong thinly scaled fovea, round which veins are 
distorted. Hindwings with veins 4 and 5 closely approximated 
towards base, veins 7 and separate, or very shortly anastomosing, 

I view this as a development of Macalla with exaggerated 
palpi and loss of antennal processes. In structure it approaches 
Arnatula, but differs in the hindwings. 

HETEROBELA TRIGLOCHIS 7. sp. 

tpryAwyxis, three-forked ; in allusion to the posterior line. 

3 2? 27-82 mm. Head, thorax and palpigrey. Antennae 
fuscous; in gf simple, moderately ciliated (#). Abdomen 
ochreous-whitish irrorated with fuscous. Legs whitish irrorated 
with grey; anterior and middle tarsi dark-fuscous annulated 
with whitish. Forewings triangular, costa scarcely arched, 
apex rounded, termen slightly rounded, moderately oblique ; 
grey-whitish irrorated with dark-grey and some dark-fuscous 
scales; lines dark-fuscous ; antemedian straight, from 4 costa 
to 4 dorsum, sometimes suffused; postmedian from 4 costa 
obliquely outwards, forming three acute teeth in disc, then 
sharpely indented inwards before ending on 3 dorsum; a more 
or less interrupted line from costal end of antemedian to 
indentation of postmedian ; an interrupted dark-fuscous terminal, 
line; cilia whitish, bases mixed with fuscous and reddish. 
Hindwings with termen rounded; whitish, with a broad 
suffused dark-fuscous terminal band; cilia whitish with a 
fuscous basal line. 

Var. a. Space between lines of forewings suffused with 
dark-fuscous. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

Q., Brisbane, in October, January, February, and March, 


sixteen specimens. 
Gen. 28. Macauua. 


Macalla, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xvi., p. 156. 

Stericta, Led. Wien, Ent. Mon. vii, p. 340 (1863). Meyr., 
Tr. Pscleot, pe 407. 

It will be noted that I use this and the following two 
generic names in a different sense to that in which they are 
employed by Sir Geo, Hampson. 

MACALLA NUBILALIS. 

Stericta nubilalis, Hmps., Ill. Het., ix, p. 157. Pl. 172, f. 9. 

Sir Geo. Hampson informs me that specimens from Ceylon 
and Australia are exactly alike. 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 195 


N.Q., Townsville, in December; two specimens received 
from Mr. F. P. Dodd. 

MACALLA RECURVALIS. 

Salma recurvalis, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat., xxvii, p. 107. 

Balanotis recurvalis, Meyr., Tr. E.S., 1894, p 70 = 
crypsaula, Meyr, Tr. E.S., 1887, p 191. 

Stericta recurvalis, Meyr., Tr. E.S., 1887, p. 189. 

My material does not enable me to form any opinion as to 
whether Sir Geo. Hampson is correct in regarding crypsaula, 
asa synonym of recurvalis. Mr. Meyrick describes them as 
distinct. | 

N.S.W., Sydney ; V., Melbourne; T., Launceston, Hobart. 

MACALLA MARMOREA. 
Stericta marmorea, Warr., A.M.N.H. (6), vii, p. 482 (1891), 
T., Launceston, Hobart. 

MACALLA CHOLICA. 

Cacozelia cholica, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1884, p. 66. 

Q., Duaringa, Brisbine; N.S.W., Sydney; V., Melbourne, 
Gisborne. 

+ MACALLA DEMOTIS. 
Stericta ? demotis, Meyr., Tr. H.S. 1887, p. 187. 
W.A., Geraldton; N.W.A., Sherlock River (British 


Museum). 
MACALLA CONCISELLA. 


Matalia soncisella, Wik., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxxv., p. 1728. 
N.Q., Cooktown, Townsville; Q., Nambour, Brisbane, 
Mount Tambourine. 
++ MACALLA PRASINA. . 
Stericta ? prasina, Warr., A.M.N.H. (6) xvi., p. 462 (1895). 
Queensland. 
MACALLA THYRIDALIS. 
Bertula thyrisalis, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xvi., p. 167. 
Catamola thyridalis, Meyr., Tr. 1.8. 1884, p. 64. 
Q., Bundaberg, Brisbane; N.5.W., Sydney; W.A., Albany. 
MACALLA XANTHOMELALIS. 
Acrobasis ? xanthomelalis, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxvii, p. 32. 
Catamola xanthomelalis, Meyr., Tr. B.S. 1884, p. 64. 
WN.S.W., Sydney. 
++ MACALLA FERRUGINEA. 
Balanotis ferruginea, Luc., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1898, p. 156. 
Q., Brisbane. 


MACALLA AERUGINOSA. 
Stericta aeruginosa, Luc., P.L.S.N.S.W. 1898, p. 155. 
Q., Brisbane. 


196 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 
MACALLA ALEUROPA. 


Stericta aleuropa, Low., Tr. R.S.S.A. 1903, p. 59. 

9? 81 mm. Head and thorax white finely irrorated with 
fuscous. Palpi white; terminal joint fuscous. Antennae grey. 
Legs white, with dark-fuscous spots on upper surface. Fore- 
wings triangular, costa scarcely arched, apex rounded, termen 
slightly rounded slightly oblique; white finely irrorated with 
fuscous ; markings fuscous; a dot on + costa from which can be 
traced an indistinct antemedian line; a dot on mid-costa, and 
another beneath it on disc; two closely approximated, nearly 
straight, finely dentate lines from costa about 2, the anterior not 
quite reaching dorsum, the posterior thickened beneath and 
ending on tornus; an oval spot on termen above middle, and 
two dots on termen between this and apex; cilia white, bases 
barred with fuscous. Hindwings with termen rounded; grey ; 
cilia grey with a whitish basal line. 

Somewhat resembles consicella, but the postmedian line is 
straight, and the cilia have no pinkish tinge. 


Mr. Lower’s type is also a 9. 
N.Q., Mackay ? (Lower); Q., Brisbane, in October; one 
specimen. 


MACALLA ZOPHERA 22. S)). 


Codepos, dusky. 

3 25 mm. Head, thorax, and antennal processes fuscous 
mixed with ochreous-whitish and pale-reddish. Palpi dark- 
fuscous. Antennae dark-grey; in g slightly serrate with 
short ciliations (4). Abdomen fuscous. Legs dark-fuscous 
annulated with ochreous-whitish. Forewings triangular, costa 
slightly arched, apex rounded, termen slightly rounded, slightly 
oblique ; cark-fuscous mixed with ochreous-whitish and reddish 
scales ; markings dark-fuscous ; an elongate spot on costa near 
base ; a spot on costa at + from which proceeds an ill-defined 
interrupted line to 4 dorsum; a discal spot beneath costa 
before middle; a third costal spot beyond middle giving rise to 
a sharply dentate line to $ dorsum, d2eply indented above 
dorsum; an interrupted terminal line; cilia whitish, tinged 
with reddish and barred with fuscous. Hindwings with termen 
rounded ; fusccus; cilia as forewings but less distinctly marked. 


Type in Coll. Turner. 
Q., Burpengary near Brisbane, in December, one specimen. 


= ————— 


BY A. JEFFERIS TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 19% 


MACALLA EBENINA, 2l. Sp. 


éBewwos, black like ebony. 

3 2 382-36 TILT. Head, thorax, palpi and antennal 
processes blackish, with a few ochreous-whitish scales. Antennae 
dark fuscous; in g simple, shortly ciliated (4). Abdomen 
ochreous-whitish, irrorated with dark fuscous. Legs, dark 
fuscous, irrorated and annulated with whitish. Forewings 
triangular, costa scarcely arched, apex rounded, termen slightly 
rounded, moderately oblique; blackish finely irrorated with 
whitish scales, which are sometimes reddish-tinged ; a whitish 
dentate, outwardly curved line from # costa to 2 dorsum; cilia 
ochreous-whitish barred with dark fuscous. Hindwings with 
termen rounded; whitish, with a broad suffused fuscous 
terminal band ; cilia whitish with a fuscous line at 4. 

In coloration resembles K'pipaschia costigeralis, but the 
lacks the costal gland, and has structurally different palpi and 
antennae. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

Q., Brisbane, in February ; two specimens. 


Gen. 29. Eprpascnta. 


Epipaschia, Clem., Proc. Nat. Sci. Phil. 1860, p. 14: 
Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1887, p. 187. 

EPIPASCHIA FUNEREA. 

Acrobasis funerea, Wlk., Brit. Mus. Cat. xxvii., p. 31. 

Catamola funerea, Meyr., Tr. E.S., 1884, p. 65. 

Q., Brisbane, Southport ; N.S.W., Glen Innes, Sydney ; V., 
Melbourne; §.A., Ardrossan; W.A., Perth. 

+ EPIPASCHIA PYRASTIS. 

Sterieta pyrastis, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1887, p. 190. 

Q., Brisbane ; N.S.W., Newcastle. 

EPIPASCHIA SABURALIS. 

Pyralis ? saburalis, W1k., Brit. Mus. Cat. xix., p. 914. 

Astrapometis saburalis, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1884, p. 67. 
Hmps., Tr. E.S. 1896, p. 861. 

In two out of three specimens which I have examined 
veins 4 and 5 of the hindwings are stalked ; both Meyrick and 
Hampson state them to be separate. In all three examples 
vein 7 of hindwings anastomoses very shortly with 8. 

N.S.W., Sydney; V., Melbourne, Gisborne. 

| EPIPASCHIA PICTA. 
Stericta picta, Warr., A.M.N.H. (6) xvi., p. 461 (1895). 
Queensland. 


198 AUSTRALIAN THYRIDIDAE AND PYRALIDAE 


+ EPIPASCHIA HABITALIS. 
Glossina habitalis, Gn., Lep. viii., p. 125. 


Tasmania. 
EPIPASCHIA NAUPLIALIS. 


Pyralis ? nauplialis, W\k., Brit. Mus. Cat. xvii., p. 272. 
Q., Brisbane; N.S.W., Sydney; V., Gisborne, Birchip ; 
8.A., Mount Lofty, Ardrossan; W.A., Albany, Geraldton, 


Carnarvon. 
EPIPASCHIA COSTIGERALIS. 


Pyralis costigeralis, W\k., Tr. E.8., (8), i, p. 121. 

Cacozelia costigeralis, Meyr., Tr. E.S. 1885, p. 489. 

? Catamola inuncta, Luc., P.R.S.Q. 1898, p. 80. 

Q., Brisbane, Stradbroke Island; N.S.W., Sydney, Mt- 
Kosciusko ; V., Melbourne, Fernshaw, Gisborne, Birchip; T., 
Hobart. 


EPIPASCHIA ATRIBASALIS. 
Stericta atribasalis, Warr., A.M.N.H. (6), xvi, p. 461 (1895). 
Stericta leucodesma, Low., Tr. R.§.8.A. 1896, p. 156. 
N.Q., Townsville; Q., Brisbane. 


EPIPASCHIA SEMINIVEA. 


Stericta ? seminivea, Warr., A.M.N.H. (6), xvi, p. 463 (1895). 


Stericta chionopa, Low., Tr. R.S.S.A. 1896, p. 155. 
I have found a larva feeding on Phyllanthus ferdinandi 
Q., Nambour, Brisbane. 
EPIPASCHIA LITHOCHLORA. 
Epipaschia lithochlora, Low., Tr. R.S.S.A. 1896, p. 154. 
Orthaga polialis, Hmps. 
Q., Brisbane, Toowoomba. 
} EPIPASCHIA RUBRIDISCALIS. 
Orthaga rubridiscalis, Hmps. 
N.Q., Cooktown. 
EPIPASCHIA CRYPSERYTHRA, 2. S/). 
kpuepvOpos, with hidden red. 


$2. 26 mm. Head, thorax and palpi brown-whitish — 


mixed with fuscous and reddish scales. Antennae ochreous- 
whitish annulated with fuscous; in {f simple, moderately 
ciliated (4). Forewings triangular, costa slightly arched, apex 
rounded, termen rounded, moderately oblique; brown-whitish 
densely irrorated with fuscous and reddish scales; markings 
dark fuscous, costal edge dark fuscous towards base; traces of an 
antemedian line; a discal dot beneath costa before middle; a 
fine dentate outwardly curved line from # costa to 2 dorsum ; 
a series of ill defined terminal dots; cilia whitish with fuscous 


Se — 


nk ws 


BY A. JEFFERIS, TURNER, M.D., F.E.S. 199 


and reddish scales. Hindwings with termen rounded ; whitish ; 
towards termen suffused with pale fuscous; cilia whitish with 
a faint fuscous antemedian line. 
T., Hobart, in March ; two specimens in Coll. Lyell, the 9 
type and a wasted 3. 
Gen. 30. OrvTHAGA. 
Orthaga, W\k., Brit. Mus. Cat. xvi, p. 191. 
Balanotis, Meyr., Tr. E.8., 1884, p. 69. 
++ ORTHAGA MNESIBRYA. 

Balanotis mnesibrya, Meyr, Tr. E.S. 1884, p. 71. 

N.S.W., Murrurundi. 

ORTHAGA ORCHIDIVORA, 2. Sp. 

Orchidivorus, orchid-eating, 

3 2 19-20 mm. Head and thorax ochreous-whitish, 
mixed with brown. Palpi whitish, terminal joint sometimes 
with a dark fuscous anterior dot. Antennae whitish; in f 
markedly dentate, with rather long ciliations (14). Abdomen 
whitish, irrorated with dark-fuscous, tuft ochreous-tinged. Legs 
dark-fuscous irrorated and annulated with whitish. Forewings 
elongate-triangular, costa scarcely arched, apex round-pointed, 
termen slightly rounded, oblique; whitish-ochreous with 
scattered brown scales ; dark-fuscous costal spots towards base, 
before middle, and at 2; similar dots on dorsum at 4+ and 2; 
and one in disc beneath mid-costa ; a large fuscous-brown apical 
blotch, and a similar blotch on tornus; an interrupted dark- 
fuscous terminal line; cilia pale-brown with a double series of 
fuscous dots. Hindwings with termen rounded; grey, towards 
base paler, towards termen darker; cilia whitish with a grey 
basal line. 

Type in Coll. Turner. 

Q., Burpengary, near Brisbane; three specimens received 
from Dr. Thos. Bancroft, who informs me that the larvae were 
destructive to the pseudobulbs of native orchids in his bush- 


house. 
Gen. 31. Dopptana. 


Doddiana, Turn., Tr. B.S.S.A. 1902, p. 187. 
DODDIANA CALLIZONA. 

Stericta ? callizona, Low., Tr. R.S.8.A. 1896, p. 155. 

Doddiana callizona, Turn., Tr. R.8.8.A. 1902, p. 188. 

N.Q., Townsville, Mackay. 


’ 
f 


AUSTRALIAN CROCODILES. 


By J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 


Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, 30th January, 1904, 


Berore proceeding to deal with the subject of this article it 
will be advantageous to devote a few words to the consideration 
of the affinities and classification of Reptiles in general as 
accepted at the present day. 

Popularly speaking, Reptiles are cold-blooded vertebrate 
animals, breathing throughout existence by means of lungs, 
having the body protected by scales or scutes, the skull articu- 
lated with the atlas vertebra by a single convex condyle, and the 
heart divided into two auricles and an usually incompletely | 
divided ventricle ; the blood of the arterial and venous systems 
mingles either in the heart or at the origin of the aortic arches ; 
and the thoracic and abdominal cavities are but rarely separated 
by a complete diaphragm. All Reptiles are either oviparous 
or Ovoviviparous, the eggs in the former and much more numerous 
section being enclosed within a shell, which is either hard and 
calcareous like that of a bird, or soft and pliable. The foetus, 
like that of mammals and birds, is surrounded by an amnion 
and an allantois, and is nourished from the yoke of the egg. 

Reptiles are more closely allied to birds than to any other 
class of vertebrate animals; with them they agree in the presence 
of a single basioccipital condyle, the absence of branchiz at any 
period of postfctal existence, the articulation of the complex 
lower jaw to the cranium through the medium of a quadrate 
bone, and the nucleated blood corpuscles. 

Reasoning from these data the majority of biologists 
now accept Huxley’s theory, that the reptilian type is that 


202 AUSTRALIAN CROCODILES 


from which the avian originated. The most obvious dis- 
tinctions between recent reptiles and birds are of course 
the presence in the latter of an epidermal covering consisting 
of feathers, the transformation of the fore limbs into wings, the 
reduction of the tail from the normally long reptilian type to a 
short coccyx, and the complete absence of teeth; but the 
importance of these seemingly insurmountable differences is 
greatly minimised by the discovery within recent years of fossil 
forms absolutely intermediate between the two classes, such as 
the Archwopteryx, a fossil feathered organism from the litho- 
graphic beds of Solenhofen, Bavaria, belonging to the odlitic 
period, whose avian affinities are now universally recognised, 
notwithstanding the presence of a long reptilian tail; and of 
the adontornithean fossils from the Mesozoic beds of the Rocky 
Mountains, which are extinct birds, furnished with functional 
teeth in both jaws. With cata such as these before us, it is 
impossible to deny that birds are the descendants of some 
branch or branches of the reptilian type, in which the power of 
flight was developed, and along with it other anatomical 
characters by which birds are distinguished from existing 
reptiles. 


Four orders of reptiles are represented in the present 
geological epoch, one of which, the Rhynchocephalia, still 
lingers on in the single species Sphenodon punctatus, the limit 
of whose range is restricted to the islands in the Bay of Plenty, 
North Island, New Zealand, where it is known to the Maoris as 
the ‘ 7Twatera,” and lives in holes in the ground, either 
excavated by itself, or for nesting purposes by the Mutton 
Birds, upon the young of which, with other small animals, it 
subsists. The three remaining recent orders are the Emydosauria 
(Gharials, Crocodiles, Alligators, &c.), the Chelonia (Tortoises, 
Turtles, Terrapins, &c.), and the Squamata, which is divisible 
into two readily distinguishable suborders, the Lacertilia 
(Lizards) and the Ophulia (Snakes). 


With regard to the geological distribution of reptiles, the 
earliest remains at present known belong to the Upper 
Carboniferous deposits of Nova Scotia, and consist of a pair of 
deeply .amphiccelous vertebrae, believed to be those of a 
labyrinthodont animal, to which the name Hosawrus acadicus 
has been applied. During the Permian era reptiles belonging 
to the rhynchocephalian type appear, in all of which the 
vertebre still continue amphicelous. Coming to Mesozoic 


i i ee ek eee 


BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 203 


times we find reptiles in great abundance, and in a high state of 
development, so much so that this has been called the ‘‘ Age of 
Reptiles.’ Among the Triassic forms worthy of notice may be 
mentioned the predecessors of the existing crocodilians, but 
differing from them in having amphicclous vertebre and 
anterior choane, as also in lacking the dilatation of the palatine 
and pterygoid bones so characteristic of the present species. 
These Triassic forms increase in number and variety, and 
become more enormously developed in size during the Jurassic 
period, which is also remarkable in possessing the earliest 
chelonian remains, and these not materially differing from the 
existing families. It is, however, to the Cretaceous period that 
we must look for the greatest variety of reptilian life and the 
culminating point in its development; during this era there 
appeared gigantic marine monsters, having a snake-like body 
and very short limbs, and aitaining a length of at least eighty 
feet. Here also the first extinct crocodiles having procelous 
vertebr2 and posterior choane occur. Marine chelonians, | 
allied to the Leathery Turtle (Dermatochelys coriacea), also make 
their appearance. Towards the close of this period, however, 
its abundant reptilian life was almost totally annihilated. 
With the exception of a few genera allied to the dinosaurians 
the Tertiary reptiles belong to the present faunic type; here the 
more ancient forms of the Hmydosauria are entirely superseded 
by true crocodiles, gharials, and alligators, and the earliest 
Ophidian remains occur in the Pleistocene deposits of France, 
and more especially of India; while during the Eocene period 
several innocuous genera, mostly: of large size, appear. 
Chelonian remains are numerous throughout all the Tertiary 
formations, and approximate so closely to recent types as to be 
in many cases specifically indistinguishable. 


The geographical distribution of reptiles is a subject too 
large and complex to receive more than a passing mention here ; 
it is sufficient, therefore, to point out that being cold-blooded, 
air-breathing animals, their natural home is to be looked for in 
the tropical and subtropical zones, and accordingly we find that 
it is within those limits that they have attained their highest 
development whether as regards size, variety of form, or beauty 
of coloration, while beyond these limits reptiles rapidly decrease 
in numbers, and entirely disappear within the polar circle. 


The Hmydosauria, to which subclass the subjects of this 
article belong, may be briefly described as having a lacertiform 


204 AUSTRALIAN CROCODILES 


body and long powerful tail adapted for swimming, while the 
ventricle of the heart is divided by a complete septum, and the 
vertebre of all the recent species are proccelous, that is hollowed 
out in front and convex behind. 


The reptiles belonging to this subclass have been very 
generally subdivided by recent systematists into three families— 
the Gavialida, Crocodilida, and Alligatoride—distinguished chiefly 
by the form of the snout, the position of the enlarged maxillary 
tooth, and the sheathing or otherwise of certain of the anterior 
mandibular teeth. But the differences on which these families 
have been constituted are of too trivial a nature to justify such 
division, and it is therefore preferable to retain all the members 
of the subclass in the single original family Crocodilide. By 
the interposition of the genus TJ’omistoma, the range of which is 
restricted to Borneo, the gulf existent between the East Indian 
Gavialide and the tropically cosmopolitan Crocodilide is com- 
pletely bridged over. Thus the position of the former as 
diagnostically separable from the latter family is untenable. 
Further, the only character which separates the true crocodiles 
from the alligators is the slightly increased number of mandibular 
teeth in the latter group, these teeth rarely exceeding fifteen in 
Crocodilus and the West African Osteolemus, while in the Chinese 
and North American Alligator, and the tropical American Caiman 
the minimum is seventeen, and the number rises as high as 
twenty-two in Caiman trigonatus ; and since in Tomistoma, which, 
without doubt, is more closely allied to the gharial, and the 
slender-snouted crocodiles such as the Australian (vcodilus 
johnstonii, Krefft, the African C. cataphractus, and the South 
American ©. interm dius—the increased number also prevails, 
it follows that this character, when unsupported by others, is 
not of sufficient value to warrant a separation of the two groups. 
The well-known character originally pointed out by Cuvier on 
which so much stress has been laid, namely—that in Crocodilus 
the enlarged fourth mandibular tooth fits into a notch in the 
upper jaw, while in Alligator it is completely sheathed within a 
pit, is not absolutely diagnostic, since specimens of the short- 
snouted Crocodilus palustris of India, Burma, and the dialay 
Archipelago occur, which agree in this respect with the 
alligators. On the other hand, the late Prof. Cope has described 
a supposed alligator in which the fourth tooth on one side fits 
into a notch, on the other into a pit, this, however, is of course 
an accidental variation. 


BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 205 


All the Crocodilide are oviparous, and the eggs, which are 
enclosed in a hard calcareous shell, vary in number from twenty 
to sixty, according to the age of the individual ; considering the 
bulk of the animal producing them, the eggs are extraordinarily 
small, not exceeding in size those of a goose. With the 
majority of species they are simply deposited in shallow troughs 
scraped in the sand or mud, covered up, and left to be hatched 
out by the heat of the sun, but at least a few species hasten the 
process by piling vegetable matter upon the nests, the decom- 
position of which furnishes more quickly and surely the requisite 
heat. Although guarded assiduously by the mother, the young 
on their emergence from the egg have to run the gauntlet of 
many dangers from mammals, birds, fishes, and reptiles, and 
among the latter none are credited with so discriminating a 
partiality as the male parent; in the egg state their situation is 
every whit as precarious, all sorts of animals seeking them out 
and devouring them ; indeed the Egyptians deified a species of 
Ichneumon because of its dexterity in ferreting out and 
consuming the contents of the nests. . 


Crocodiles’ eggs are held in high estimation as food by the 
native population of all the regions in which they are plentiful, 
and in many countries, notably Siam and Upper Egypt, the 
reptiles themselves are utilised as an article of food, though 
according to Sir Samuel Baker’s account, the flavor is ‘‘a com- 
pound of stinking fish, rotten flesh, and concentrated musk,” 
and would hardly therefore meet the requirements of a civilised 
palate. 


The food of crocodiles consists of fishes, reptiles, birds, &c., 
of dead bodies carried down the current or backwards and for- 
wards in a tideway, ard of such mammals as their strength 
permits them to drag into deep water and drown; their method 
is to lie concealed beneath the surface near the watering places 
of wild or domestic animals, and stealthily approaching to seize 
the unsuspecting drinker by the muzzle, and by the exertion of 
their enormous strength drag the victim into water of sufficient 
depth to enable then to hold it beneath the surface and so in 
time suffocate it; and since by means of muscular valves both 
to the nostrils and the gullet, which can be closed and opened 
at will, they can remain submerged for some considerable time 
without inconvenience to themselves, they are enabled to keep 
the head of the victim beneath the water for such a time as 
generally suffices to suffocate it, while, if on their part the neces- 


206 AUSTRALIAN CROCODILES 


sity for breathing should arise, the superior aspect of the nostrils 
and the ingenious method by which the respired air is conveyed 
to the lungs by means of a passage, bordered below by the firmly 
ankylosed nasal, palatine, and pterygoid bones—which passage 
only opens far back in the throat—enable them to breathe, and 
at the same time retain their hold on the prey. Should this be 
of too large a size to permit of its being conveniently torn to 
pieces at once, it is, when dead, dragged upon a sand-or mud- 
bank and there secreted until the advent of putrefaction so 
softens the tissues as to make them easily separable by the 
powerful jaws of their destroyer. 


All the crocodilians are wholly aquatic, only leaving the 
water to bask in the sun on sand-or mud-banks, or to devour 
the prey which they have previously brought thither. When 
any river, pond, or marsh inhabited by these reptiles is about to 
become dry, as is so often the case in tropical countries, they 
bury themselves in the mud, and there remain quiescent until 
the return of moisture recalls them to active existence, at 
which time hunger makes them exceptionally savage and in- 
different to danger. This is not, however, an invariable habit, 
since the Kast Indian Crocodilus palustris or Marsh Crocodile, 
is known to leave its usual haunts on the approach of drought 
and travel in search of water, secreting itself in the day tiie, 
and continuing its journey during the hours of darkness only ; 
whether its instinct, like that of the fresh-water eels (Anguilla) 
under similar circumstances, leads it by the most direct route to 
the nearest water, is & point on which no evidence is forth- 
coming, but it is more than probable that such is the case; nor 
do we know whether the same instinct impels them, on the 
advent of rain, to return to their former home; this also is not 
improbable, for it is well known that birds and fishes will always, 
if it be physically possible, return year atter year to the same 
place. 

A favorite method of approaching their prey is by sub- 
merging the head and tail, leaving only the dorsal surface—and 
of course the extreme tip of the snout in which the nostrils are 
pierced, and which is too small to attract attention—exposed, 
and in this manner floating motionless with the current, when 
they bear so close a resemblance to a floating log as frequently 
to deceive even those well acquainted with their habits. 


The majority of the Crocodilide are inhabitants of the 
rivers and marshy lagunes of tropical and subtropical countries; 


BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 207 


a few species, however, frequent the estuaries of large rivers, 
and have even been found in the open sea many miles from land. 


In all the members of the family the skull is exceptionally 
solid, and the roof of the mouth exceeds in completeness even 
that of all mammals except the anteaters and cetaceans (whales, 
dolphins, &e.), being composed of the suturally united maxillary, 
palatine, and pterygoid bones. 

Touching the limital range of the emydosaurians towards 
either pole and their capacity of enduring cold it may be 
mentioned that the North American alligator (A. mississipiensis) 
is resident as far north as North Carolina, while the most 
southerly latitudes to which they extend are found to be—in 
Africa to the southern portion of the Cape Colony, where 
Crocodilus niloticus occurs, and in South America to the Rio de 
la Plata, in which both Caiman latirostris and C. sclerops are 
resident; C. niger and C. trigonatus both ascend the Rio 
Amazons to its head waters in Hastern Peru, and the Hast 
Indian marsh crocodile (of which mention has been previously 
made) follows up the course of the rivers which have their 
source in the Himalayas to such an altitude that ice forms upon 
the streams. 

Only two *species of crocodile have been recorded with 
certainty from Australia, both of which belong to the Queensland 
fauna; these may be briefly diagnosed as follows :— 

Long-snouted crocodile ; pond crocodile; fresh-water croco- 
dile (Crocodilus johnstonii, Kvetft). Snout about three times as 
long as broad at its base; postoccipital scutes well developed ; 
nuchal scutes subcontinuous with the dorsal. 

Short-snouted crocodile ; estuary crocodile ; coast crocodile 
(Crocodilus porosus, Schneider). Snout from one and a third to 
two and a fourth times as long as broad at the base ; postoccipital 
scutes usually absent; nuchal scutes distinctly separated from 
the dorsal. 

The first of these species has so far been recorded only from 
Central Queensland, where it is partial to the still waters of 
ponds, billabongs, and lagunes; it attains a length of at least 
seven feet. Little or nothing is positively known of its habits, 
but it is reported to be quite harmless, and judging from the 


*The example obtained by Capt. Stokes on the Victoria River and 
recorded by Grey (Stokes, Discoveries in Australia, i, p. 503) as Crocidilus 
palustris was ©. porosus. The skull is still in the South Kensington 
Museum. 


208 AUSTRALIAN CROCODILES 


configuration of its snout we may safely conclude that its chief 
if not its only food is fishes. As a species it is much less 
numerically abundant that C. porosus, nevertheless it is said to 
be plentiful in certain restricted districts. 


Whether as to dimensions, distribution, or ferocity the case 
is widely different as regards the short-snouted Crocodile, which 
when adult averages a length of eighteen feet; it grows, 
however, to a much larger size, a specimen, the skull of which 
is in the South Kensington Museum, London, having been 
recorded from Bawisaul in the Bengal Presidency, which 
measured when killed no less than thirty-three feet. 


Its range also is very extensive and forms a marked 
contrast with that of Johnston’s Crocodile, as it is found in all 
the estuaries and along the coast line of Northern Australia, 
New Guinea, the Solomon and the Fiji Islands, and westward 
throughout Malaysia to Burma, Southern China, the east coast 
of India, and Ceylon. 


That the southern range of this crocodile on the mainland 
of Australia is gradually but surely being pushed northwards, 
seems from facts to which reference will hereafter be made, 
incontrovertible, and is in direct variance with the contentions. 
of Indian zoologists, who hold shat it is an immigrant from the 
west to our shores. Judging from analogous cases we should 
have expected, were this contention correct, that it would have 
spread from the common centre, which these authors take to be 
the east coast of India, equally as far to the westward as to the 
eastward; but this is not the case, since this species does not 
inhabit the west coast of the great peninsula. It is, therefore, 
necesury to look elsewhere for the metropolis and original birth 
place of the Estuary Crocodile, and these, in the author’s 
opinion, are naturally to be found in the Malaysian subregion, 
among the many islands of which it acquired its partiality for 
an estuarine and even marine existence, and from whence, 
owing to this peculiarity, it was able to extend its 
range in every’ direction, even to the successful 
colonisation of such distant islands as those of the Fijian group, 
after having successfully negotiated a journey which must have 
proved fatal to the majority of related species. Nor does the 
fact of its greater extension in an eastern direction from the 
proposed centre of origin militate against this theory, since such 
increased extension is doubtless due to the lack of competition 
in that direction. To sum up then—from the centre indicated 


BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 209 


above, it would be an easy matter for this crocodile, if we keep 
in view its ability of existing for what might possibly be a 
lengthened period in the open sea—and we must not losa sight 
of the fact that this habit would be naturally initiated and finally 
perfected by its residence among the islands of the Malay Archi- 
pelago—to extend its range eastwards through New Guinea to 
the Solomon Islands and ultimately to Fiji, and westwards 
through Burma down the east coast of India to Ceylon, at 
present its westerly limit. This would not necessarily, or even 
probably be the case, were the contention of Indian writers 
correct. 

The southern range of C. porosus in Australia at the present 
time coincides very fairly with the Tropic uf Capricorn ; they are 
abundant in all the rivers of Queensland south to the Fitzroy 
and Raglan, less common in the Calliope, and so rare in the 
Boyne that, though the district had been settled for upwards of 
forty years, its existence was unsuspected until an example was 
shot in 1887; while in the Baffle River, still further south, the 
only evidence of its presence is a single skeleton found upon the 
bank.* 

This abrupt termination of their southerly range is probably 
connected with the absence of the numerous islands and coral 
reefs which fringe the coast to the north of Facing Island, off 
the embouchure of the Boyne. Should they wander further to 
the south they would of necessity be compelled to face the waves 
of the open ocean, whereas to the northward they could creep 
along the coast from river to river and lagune to lagune under 
the shelter of the Great Barrier and its satellite reefs. 

As regards their food I am informed that those who are 
intimately acquainted with the animal in its natural haunts are 
agreed in stating that the most dainty morsel which can be 
offered to this reptile is a dog, a fact which many observers 
have recorded of the allied African Crocodile (C. niloticus) ; but 
I am unaware as to whether the Queensland dog has as yet 
learnt the Jesson which long ages os persecution has taught his 
Egyptian brother, who, when thirsty, sits down at the water’s 
edge and howls for several minutes, by this means attracting all 
the crocodiles in the vicinity to that place, whereupon the dog 
quietly trots along the bank for a couple of hundred yards or so 
and is thus enabled to reap the reward of his cleverness by 
quenching his thirst in peace ; though this has been affirmed by 


* One is stated to have been shot lately in the Mary River. 
O 


210 AUSTRALIAN CROCODILES 


several writers on the Nile, who claimed to be eye-witnesses of 
this comedy, one does not care to vouch for the truth of the 


story. North Queensland farmers attribute to the ‘‘ Alligators,” » 


as they are there universally but erroneously called, the loss of 
many a calf or sheep, and even horses are occasionally to be 
seen the scars on whose quarters attest the terrible struggles 
which must have taken place between them and these reptiles. 
Wallabies and other indigenous mammals, while drinking or 
swimming a creek, frequently fall a prey to them, and birds also 
contribute in some degree to their bill of fare, for Mr. Charles 
Hedley, to whom I am indebted for much interesting infor- 
mation respecting their habits, tells me that he has frequently 
seen little heaps of the feathers of the ‘‘ Blue Crane’’ (Ardea 
novehollandie) in their camps; these feathers are probably 
stripped off the victim by means of the reptiles’ paws, in the 
use of which they are very expert; ducks and other waterfowl 
also fall victims to their cunning, while birds which when shot 
happen to fall in the water are often snapped up immediately 
by crocodiles. 


It is quite possible, though contrary to generally accepted 
opinion, that these reptiles, like the larger Carnivora, only 
acquire a taste for human flesh in exceptional cases, and this 
habit may be brought into existance in various ways, the most 
common of which is some disability such as increasing age, or 
an injury, which prevents the individual competing on equal 
terms with his fellows, and it therefore falls back upon such 
prey as in its natural state is least able to defend itself against 
attack. The following incident seems to bear upon this theory: 
A duck having been shot and fallen in the water, the sportsman, 
while swimming out to retrieve his game, was actually touched 
by a crocodile of this species, which was also bent upon seizing, 
and in fact did immediately afterwards seize and carry off the 
struggling quarry, thus rejecting the man, though absolutely at 
his mercy, in favour of the bird; needless to say, however, the 
swimmer lost no time in placing the ‘‘ good dry land” beneath 
his feet again. ; 


Their large nests are constructed in the dense mangrove 
swamps which line the banks of our northern rivers, and are 
composed of ‘‘ grape-vines, reeds, grasses, and other rubbish of a 
somewhat similar nature to those of the brush turkey” (Mr. T. 
Wyndham, in litera) ; and in the same manner the eggs are 
hatched out by means of the heat engendered through the fer- 


BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 211 


mentation of the decaying mass. The aborigines eagerly seek 
for and plunder the nests of the eggs, which are considered a 
delicacy. 


In an earlier part of this article mention is shortly made 
of the different methods of oviposition resorted to by the differ- 
ent species of crocodilians, and it is there stated that the 
majority of species simply deposit their eggs in shallow troughs 
scraped in the sand or mud; as an example of hatching out 
the eggs, in contradistinction to the elaborate nests formed by 
our estuary crocodile, the following account will be read with 
interest ; it is abstracted from a paper entitled, ‘‘On the Ovi- 
position and Embryonic Development of the Crocodile” / Ann. 
and Mag. Nat. Hist. (6) ix. 1892, p. 66), and is from the pen of 
Dr. A. Voeltzkow, who, writing on the breeding habits of 
Crocodilus niloticus, as observed by him in Madagascar, remarks : 


‘“«The nest consists of a pit, excavated in the earth to a depth 
of from a foot and a half to two feet, with partially steep walls, 
At the bottom of the pit the walls are undermined, and here the 
eggs are placed. The floor of the pit is raised slightly in the 
middle, so that the eggs, as they are laid by the female, roll by 
themselves into the hollowed-out places Very rarely one or two 
eges are found in the middle of the pit, which may well be 
taken as proving that the mother does not herself push the eggs | 
into the hollows with her feet, for in that case no eggs would 
ever be found in the centre of the pit. After the eggs are laid 
the pit is filled in, and no sign of it can be detected from above. 
The old Crocodile sleeps upon the nest, and this enables the 
natives to find the eggs, since they follow the tracks of the 
animal from the water. Further on Dr. Voeltzkow continues :— 
‘« When the young are ready to emerge, the female scrapes the 
sand out of the pit.’ He then proceeds to relate how the 
mother knows that the eggs are sufficiently developed and that 
it is time to scrape out the pit. This from personal observation 
he proves to be due to the noise produced by the young animal 
while still imprisoned within the as yet unbroken shell; these 
sounds can be heard at a considerable distance, and the mother 
while lying on the nest hears them and acts accordingly. ‘‘ They 
are,” he continues ‘‘ produced with the mouth closed, apparently 
by powerful contraction of the ventral muscles, much as wemakea 
noise when hiccoughing. The sound too is similar.” According 
to the same authorities, the young are unable to extricate them- 


212 AUSTRALIAN CROCODILES 


selves from the sand, and if not soon released by the mother, 
perish by suffocation. The development of the embryo takes 
about three months’. 


Both species of Australian Crocodiles are represented in the 
mounted cyllection in the Queensland Hall of the local Museum, 


An accouut of the Crocodile would scarcely be complete 
without some notice being taken of the ‘* Crocodile-bird,’’ of the 
Nile. This is a species of spur-winged Plover (Hoplopterus 
spinosws, Linn), which is credited with habitually entering the 
mouth of the crocodiles, when sunning themselves on 
the sandbars of that river, for the purpose of 
extracting the portions of food which may have 
become wedged between the teeth of the reptile. The 
habit was first noticed by Aristotle, who was followed by 
Herodotus and Adlian, all these authors claiming to give their 
narratives directly from the accounts of eye-witnesses. From 
the time of the latter author there is a hiatus in the history of 
the relations existing between the bird and its host until the 
time of Giovanni Leone, who about the year 1600 A.D. reiterates 
the story, apparently from personal observation. Some 119 
years later Paul Lucas again claims to have witnessed the entry 
of the bird and the closure of the crocodile’s mouth upon it, the 
reptile, according to the natives, being subsequently induced to: 
open its mouth to allow of the bird’s escape on account of the 
irritation caused by the infliction of wonnds on the inside of the 
mouth by the sharp wing-spur. The most recent and detailed 
account is that of Mr. Cook (Ibis, 1893, p. 275), which at once 
sets at rest all doubts which may have been entertained as to the 
older accounts being mere “ travelers’ stories.” After giving 
the reasons which induced him and his companion to watch the 
reptiles and their satellites and the means employed for making 
such observations without frightening the principals he goes on 
to say :—‘‘ We watched patiently until about noon, when two 
large crocodiles came out of the water on to the bank, and 
apparently were soon asleep. Several crocodile birds commenced 
flitting over them, and through our field glasses we watched one 
bird and saw it deliberately go up to a crocodile, apparently 
asleep, which opened its jaws. The bird hopped in, and the 
crocodile closed its jaws. In what appeared to be a very short 
time, probably not more than a minute or two, the crocodile 
opened its jaws, and we saw the crocodile bird go down to 
the water’s edge. As the sand bank was, I should say, at 


BY J. DOUGLAS OGILBY. 213 


least half-a-mile across, and the bird’s back was turned 
towards. us, we could not see whether it vomited in the 
water or drank, but in the course of a few seconds it re- 
turned to the crocodile, which opened its mouth again, 
and the bird again entered. The mouth was closed, and 
in a short time was opened again for the bird to come out, 
and the same operation was repeated at the river-bank. We saw 
the same bird enter the crocodile’s mouth three times, and on 
three occasions run to the water to either vomit or drink.” 
This succinct account incontrovertibly establishes the fact that 
the Nile Crocodile at least is attended by a useful avian satellite, 
and this being the case it would be strange indeed if it were the 
only species so favored; and so we find that Descourtilz 
relates a somewhat similar story of the West Indian species 
(Crocodilus americanus, Laur.) No such habit has as yet been 
noticed in connection with our species, but that is no proof of 
the absence of such habit ; and it would be interesting if resi- 
dents of places where the reptiles abound would keep a careful 
watch in order to detect any such tendency to play the host, 
especially as we too have a couple of native spur-winged plovers 
(Lobivanellus lobatus and L. miles), which could surely fill the 
role with equal facility to the Egyptian bird. One point in Mr. 
Cook’s narrative must at once strike the reader, namely, that 
although “several” of the Crocodile-birds were present, one only 
appears to have entered a crocodile’s mouth; this leads us to 
surmise whether the habit is general, or simply acquired by or 
transmitted to certain individuals or family parties. 


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